NFL London: Bo Nix and Nik Bonitto leading new Denver Broncos era as dynamic duo prepare to light up Tottenham against New York Jets
The cost of greatness in the NFL can be despairing memories of what once was when it finally departs.
It can prompt rash short-term decisions some may later come to regret, and unfair comparisons that hinder the prospect of any forward progress. It can end in finger-pointing and messy splits. Yes, we are still talking about football.
Successors to NFL greatness are greeted by an impatient yearning for immediate results and an unrivalled pressure to retain said levels of greatness. Often, it cannot be replaced. At least not like for like.
The New England Patriots have limped through life since Tom Brady, while the Indianapolis Colts have floated in quarterback purgatory since Andrew Luck's shock retirement. The Los Angeles Rams turned to a concoction of Jared Verse, Byron Young, Braden Fiske and Kobie Turner in their bid to compensate for the loss of Aaron Donald. The Philadelphia Eagles have seemingly struck gold in plucking Jalen Carter and Cam Jurgens as their long-term answer to losing Fletcher Cox and Jason Kelce. And the Green Bay Packers have smugly hopped from Brett Favre to Aaron Rodgers to Jordan Love.
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The Denver Broncos have encountered their own Hall of Fame-calibre voids at two of football's most defining positions in Super Bowl 50 champions Peyton Manning and Von Miller. One an all-time great five-time MVP quarterback that guided Denver to two Super Bowl appearances in four seasons with an X-Ray talent in deciphering defenses, the other an all-time great pass rush with a demon ghost-move and capable of single-handedly flipping a game while holding the franchise record in sacks.
Neither can be replaced, but in Bo Nix and Nik Bonitto the Broncos believe they have found their new stalwarts at either position.
Baby Von?
For some time there was a sense it might be, the now-departed, Baron Browning who would take the mantle as the next talismanic Broncos quarterback-hunter. But instead it is Bonitto who has evolved into the face of Vance Joseph's stifling Broncos defense since being drafted as a second-round pick in 2022.
He managed just 9.5 sacks across his first two seasons before igniting his NFL career with 13.5 sacks to spearhead one of the league's best defenses in 2024. In doing so he earned himself a four-year $106m extension to become the highest-paid non-quarterback in Broncos history. He is already justifying those mammoth numbers.
Bonitto now arrives in London leading the league with seven sacks and in pressure rate through five weeks ahead of Sunday's matchup with the New York Jets at Tottenham. That includes 2.5 in last weekend's victory over the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles, making him the first Broncos player to record multiple sacks in three straight games since Miller in 2014.
"He's been top of this league for a while," Broncos outside linebacker Jonathon Cooper told media in London. "His instincts are off the charts. His get off, the way he plays the game, the way he approaches. He's smarter than what you give him credit for. He's smart out there. He's a great team-mate. He's a great dude. You live right and you do things right (and) the success comes. For everything that he's doing, more power to him. I couldn't be happier."
Bonitto is on pace for a record 23.5 sacks in 2025, while being on course to break Miller's franchise record of 18.5 set back in 2012. He is a picture of speed, bend and agility armed with spin, swim and ghost moves capable of collapsing pockets both outside and inside as the chief enforcer of Joseph's prized four-man rush, which thrives off stunts, simulated pressures and disguised looks out of mugged fronts. He is the leader of the pack, and there may be no pass rusher playing better football in the league right now.
"He's a super pass rusher," Broncos coach Sean Payton said of Bonitto after Sunday's win over the Eagles. "You guys have seen the confidence just grow and grow with him. It's a good offensive line [in Philadelphia]. It's a quarterback that's hard to sack. So I'm glad he is on our team."
Coincidentally, Bonitto was selected out of Oklahoma with the 64th overall pick in 2022 - the same pick the Broncos acquired during the trade that sent Miller to the Los Angeles Rams. Quite the full circle moment.
He now takes on a Jets team that has allowed 16 sacks (tied for fourth-most in the NFL) on Justin Fields and Tyrod Taylor across five games. Denver arrive in London ranked first in sacks, first in pressure rate, second in scoring defense, fifth against the run and eighth against the pass.
Payton's protégé
Premium pass rush succession can be a game-changer, but nothing quite defines entire eras like the job of finding a long-term answer at quarterback. Particularly when it comes to the Peyton Mannings of the world.
The Broncos have seen 14 players start at quarterback since Manning's retirement in the wake of Super Bowl 50 glory, 13 if not including running back Philip Lindsay's wildcat appearance in 2020. Denver believed they had ignited their next chapter of contention by handing Russell Wilson a $245m contract in 2022, only to discover the prime Russell Wilson of Seattle was no more as Sean Payton resorted to a conservative playbook designed to veil his deficiencies.
Payton had famously springboarded the career of Drew Brees while head coach of the New Orleans Saints some years ago, unlocking questioned talent to forge an all-time NFL quarterback great. He sought to finding his next Brees story at the 2024 NFL Draft when the Broncos turned to Oregon's Nix with the 12th overall pick, making him the sixth quarterback selected in the first round. Caleb Williams had gone at No 1, followed by Jayden Daniels at No 2, Drake Maye at No 3, Michael Penix Jr at No 8, J.J. McCarthy at No 10 and then Nix at 12.
"I've said this before - I think we've found that player that can lead us and be what we need relative to having the success we're used to having. I think we've found it," said Payton this past offseason.
He didn't offer the physical dynamism of a Williams, a Daniels or a Maye, but Nix had appealed to Payton through his efficiency and shortage of negative plays or mistakes in college. He had largely been the epitome of clean football, tied in which some aggressiveness downfield and off-script.
Early question marks arose in response to a rookie that looked fidgety and uncertain in the pocket, with Nix tossing four interceptions and no touchdown strikes over his opening three games before managing just 60 passing yards in a Week Four win over the Jets.
The game slowed down, and a different Nix emerged. Over the next eight games he threw 15 touchdowns and two interceptions as Payton unleashed him in a more complex, creative system in which he began to dictate and control with tight-window throws and anticipation as opposed to reacting.
He would lead Denver to their first playoff berth since their Super Bowl 50-winning campaign after finishing 376 of 567 passing for 3,775 yards and 29 touchdowns to 12 interceptions in addition to 430 rushing yards and four touchdowns. Nix's rookie season eventually ended when the Broncos were beaten 31-7 by the Buffalo Bills in the Wild Card round, but there was a sample bulging with evidence of the most promising quarterback situation yet since the days of Manning.
"He's a scrambler, a competitor, and throws the ball in tight places. He runs their offense really well. Sean's done a great job bringing him along," said Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio prior to their Week Five game this season.
"They got their QB for the future. They looked long and hard for many years, and they got one."
Both Nix and the Broncos endured some early stutters this season after defeats to the Indianapolis Colts and Los Angeles Chargers, only to have since sparked their playoff charge into life with wins over the Cincinnati Bengals and the Eagles. His response to setbacks had been indicative of Payton and general manager George Paton finding as fierce a competitor as there is at the position in the NFL.
Such is the case that Nix enters Sunday's game with a refusal to take the Jets lightly despite their 0-5 start.
"I think in the league, quite honestly, it's a little disrespectful to consider anybody a trap team," Nix told reporters. "They're an NFL team, and they're going to have some really good players on their defense, and it's not really a trap game.
"I think any game you can walk in and slip up and lose, that's just the league. If you're not careful in a way, all of them could be because they're that good of an opponent."
The Broncos are ascending as one of the league's most polished operations, Nix feeding the career resurrecton of Courtland Sutton and J.K. Dobbins ranking fifth in rushing yards behind one of the best offensive lines in football, while Bonitto fronts Joseph's dominant defense. They are no Manning and Miller, not yet, but Payton's dynamic duo could prove pillars to a return to contention.
