The Denver Broncos made a statement last Saturday when they gave outside linebacker Jonathon Cooper a four-year, $60 million contract extension. With that deal, Denver declared that Cooper is the team’s top pass rusher going forward. That declaration was made quietly, though.
Perhaps not wanting to upset any trade talks, the Broncos did not leak Cooper’s extension until after they agreed to trade fellow outside linebacker Baron Browning to the Arizona Cardinals on Monday.
With both players scheduled to become free agents in 2025, Denver opted to keep Cooper instead of Browning. That decision was made official with Cooper’s extension on Saturday, but the team kept it quiet while finalizing the Browning trade.
There was a social media clue that the deal was done over the weekend, but nobody could be blamed for missing it (Broncos Wire didn’t notice it until after Cooper’s extension).
Cooper took to Twitter/X on Sunday evening to respond to Devin Jackson’s three-year-old story about Cooper’s football journey.
“I don’t usually look up articles of myself or read them if it’s positive but I just wanted to say thank you for this and thank you for helping me remember where I came from,” Cooper tweeted Jackson on Sunday.
I don’t usually look up articles of myself or read them if it’s positive but I just wanted to say thank you for this and thank you for helping me remember where I came from.
— Jonathon Cooper (@JonathonCooper7) November 4, 2024
After getting an extension, it seems that Cooper was reflecting back on his journey to the NFL. That was perhaps the first public clue that the pass rusher had received an extension from the Broncos.
Denver now has Cooper signed through the 2028 season.
