The Denver Broncos have one of the league's best defenses and if things stay on the trajectory that they have been going in, the team could achieve something the league has rarely seen.
Last year, Broncos defensive back Pat Surtain II was chosen as the league's Defensive Player of the Year, becoming just the second player in team history (Randy Gradishar, 1978), to do so. But could the team have another one of its players do it again this year?
Bill Barnwell of ESPN put together some awards from the quarter-season mark this year and as of right now, he has Nik Bonitto winning the award.
Bonitto had a breakout season in 2024 and has gotten off to a fast start in 2025, collecting 4.5 sacks in the team's first four games. He was rewarded with a big contract extension before the season started and now, he could be recognized with one of the league's top awards.
He was Barnwell's assessment:
"I'm just not sure we can put anybody ahead of Bonitto, who rates out as the best pass rusher in the NFL this season by about every metric I can put together beyond sacks -- where his 4.5 are a half-sack behind Brian Burns of the Giants. Bonitto has done that on 86 pass-rush opportunities, while Garrett is at 98 and Burns has had 127.
Leave sacks aside. Pressures? Bonitto's 27 are the most in football, and his 31.4% pressure rate is about double that of superstars like Hines- Allen and Aidan Hutchinson. Quick pressures? Bonitto's 15 are four more than anybody else in the league, and his 17.4% quick pressure rate is almost laughably outlandish. The second-best quick pressure rate for guys with 80 pass-rush opportunities or more is Garrett at 11.2%, and he's closer to 23rd than he is to Bonitto in first.
Bonitto doesn't get double-teamed as often as the Garretts and Hutchinsons of the world, both because he doesn't have the reputation as a superstar and because the Broncos have a couple of very good rushers elsewhere on their D-line in Zach Allen and Jonathon Cooper. He's not the same caliber of run defender as Garrett or Simmons, but Bonitto is fast enough for the Broncos to have used him as a spy when they've played Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen in the past.
Even acknowledging those realities, though, Bonitto has simply been head and shoulders above everyone else in getting to the quarterback and creating problems this season. There might not be anybody better right now at getting off the line and around opposing tackles; there's usually at least one snap per game where it looks as if Bonitto was in the offensive huddle and knew the snap count and the protection scheme. He made major strides between 2022 and 2023 and then again between 2023 and 2024. It looks as if he has leveled up into one of the league's best speed rushers in 2025."
Only three teams in NFL history have had different players win the Defensive Player of the Year Award in back-to-back seasons, and it hasn't happened since 2003-2004.
Pittsburgh Steelers: Joe Greene (1974), Mel Blount (1975), Jack Lambert (1976)
Buffalo Bills: Bryce Paup (1995), Bruce Smith (1996)
Baltimore Ravens: Ray Lewis (2003), Ed Reed (2004)
Nik Bonitto has the 4th-best odds to win DPOY. Bonitto only trails:
— Zac Stevens (@ZacStevensDNVR) October 2, 2025
Aidan Hutchinson
Micah Parsons
Myles Garrett pic.twitter.com/a11Tfs2RWI
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