ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Jonathon Cooper looked around his position group of outside linebackers and couldn’t believe what he had figured out.
“Oh, man, I’m the oldest in the room now,’’ Cooper said, shaking his head with a smile. “How did that happen?”
It happened after the Broncos in recent weeks essentially released veterans Randy Gregory (actually a near, negligible one-round trade) who is one month shy of his 31st birthday and Frank Clark, who is 30.
Cooper is now the Broncos’ oldest outside linebacker at 25 years, 9 months old and is tied with Baron Browning with the most experience and team seniority ( 2 1/3 seasons). Weren’t Cooper and Browning just part of the Broncos’ 2021 draft class?
Here is the experience and age of the Broncos’ six outside linebackers (birthdate):
*Jonathon Cooper, 3rd, 25 years, 9 months (Jan. 8, 1998)
*Marcus Haynes, rookie, 25 years, 6 months (April 7, 1998)
*Baron Browning, 3rd, 24 years, 8 months (Feb. 19, 1999)
*Thomas Incoom, rookie, 24 years, 8 months (Feb. 19, 1999)
*Nik Bonitto, 2nd, 24 years, 3 weeks (Sept. 26, 1999)
*Ronnie Perkins, 2nd, 24 years, 2 weeks (Sept. 29, 1999)
Quick, somebody call Elias. If this isn’t the youngest outside linebacker position in the NFL, it’s close.
“I think the transition has been smooth overall,’’ Cooper said. “Obviously, you hate to see guys like Randy and Frank go but I think it shows they have full confidence in us. I have full confidence in our guys, Baron Browning, Nik Bonitto. Perkins is coming up and even the young guys like Marcus and T.I. I have faith in this group.
“I feel like it’s my job to kind of lead it, to make sure everything is going smoothly and that would mean being effective and creating pressure and making plays. We have to hold ourselves to that high standard. No matter what the age is.’’
Clearly, Denver defensive coordinator Vance Joseph has gone through a significant transition towards youth among his edge rushers with Cooper and Bonitto the starters while once projected starter Browning returns this week from offseason knee surgery to make his season debut.
“It’s a good room,’’ Joseph said. “It’s a young room. It’s a hungry room. You watch ‘Coop’ play and you watch Bonitto play the last couple weeks, man, it’s getting right.
“It’s fun to see ‘Coop’ finally get his flowers a little bit, because he’s been a good player for a long time. Between injuries and not having enough reps, he’s never had his chance to be a player in the NFL lights. He’s a good player. From the spring, he’s been intentional. He played ‘Sam’ and he’s played ‘Will.’ In the run game, he’s dominant and in the pass game, he’s getting better every week. It’s been fun to watch a guy work so hard to get something and now he’s got it. He’s still pushing to get better every single day.’’
Cooper has 4.0 sacks, 30 tackles and a touchdown return off a fumble forced by Bonitto. Pretty good six-game production. Bonitto has a team-most 5.5 sacks and 18 tackles.
“Bonitto, he’s super talented,’’ Joseph said. “Second-year guy, but he’s got real traits and he’s working hard at being a better run defender each day for us. As we go along in the weeks, it’s a group that’s going to improve. Having Baron back, that’s going to help us.”
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