The first time Nik Bonitto said it, Rich Pruett scoffed. At least, mentally. Get the hell outta here.
They were training together, in the winter of 2024, the Broncos outside linebacker spending another offseason at Exos Sports Performance in Arizona. Bonitto readied for a lift. Pruett, Exos’ director of performance, offered some feedback. Bonitto looked at him.
“Coach, you don’t have to worry about me,” Bonitto told him. “I’m a bloodhound.”
“I was like, ‘Got it, let’s go,’” Pruett recalled. “‘Let’s roll with that.’
“And I’ve never lived that down. And from here on out, man, Bonitto is ‘The Bloodhound.’”
A year later, the term has become a permanent part of Bonitto’s vocabulary, across a rapid ascension as one of the best pass-rushers in the NFL. Bloodhound. An ancient breed, born to hunt, to sniff out blood and pounce. It wriggles its way into Bonitto’s texts with Pruett — messages punctuated with a proclamation of #bloodhound.
“It’s like an everyday deal now,” Pruett said. “Even, like, we had our performance interns … they might be talking, and you’d just hear, ‘Bloodhound!’ out in the background.”
And Bonitto brought the “bloodhound mentality,” as Pruett put it, immediately after a career-best 2024 season wrapped. He was in Orlando for the Pro Bowl on Saturday, Feb. 1. Two weeks later, he was back in Arizona for four-day-a-week workouts.
The 25-year-old stands at an inflection point in his NFL future, a payday dangling as his rookie contract expires. Pruett, for one, said Bonitto wasn’t doing anything special in preparation for a contract year. But in a fairly consistent offseason schedule — working with Bonitto since he came out of Oklahoma in 2022 — Pruett moved up Bonitto’s speed-training earlier in the schedule, trying to push an outside linebacker he called “the ultimate competitor.”
“We were tracking times on the fields a little bit earlier this year to make sure that we were on track, to make sure he was getting out to voluntary workouts and OTAs and being in the best possible situation to be successful,” Pruett said.
“This is a big year for him,” the trainer continued later, “and that’s what we’ve been talking about all offseason.”
Beyond The Bloodhound, a wide range of Broncos are bringing something to prove as the club’s voluntary OTAs have kicked off this week. As reporters get their first look at Denver’s 2025 roster at Thursday’s open practice, here are four things The Denver Post will be watching for across the next couple weeks of OTAs.
Bo comes home: The Crown Prince of Denver has been everywhere this offseason. He banged on the glass at Avalanche games. He hosted a youth football camp at Valor Christian. He threw out the first pitch at Coors Field on Friday. He even went to Italy.
He’s been working plenty mechanically behind the scenes, too. But the breaks from football might be a blessing. Nix hasn’t had a prolonged period of rest since the offseason before his senior year at Oregon. Thursday will give a glimpse at a refreshed Nix heading into an all-important sophomore season at the wheel in Denver.
Will there be any contract-influenced absences?: A couple of sack artists around the league — the Cowboys’ Micah Parsons and the Bengals’ Trey Hendrickson — have skipped out on OTAs amid increasingly ugly contract disputes with their franchises. Any such situation seems highly unlikely in Denver, though.
Veteran receiver Courtland Sutton missed the Broncos’ offseason activities last year amid a contract-negotiation stalemate. He now heads into the final year of a four-year deal, but Sean Payton said at the owners’ meetings in Florida that Sutton was planning to attend OTAs. Bonitto and John Franklin-Myers, meanwhile, have both dropped some not-so-subtle hints calling for negotiations on Twitter this offseason. But the Broncos have been clear about the timeline on their overall extension plans, and plenty of time remains until training camp.
What receivers separate themselves?: Payton has been enthusiastic about the progress of Denver’s young wide-receiver corps. But the Broncos, still, are light on both experience and proven production behind Sutton. The 23-year-old Marvin Mims Jr. came on hot down the stretch last year. Troy Franklin, 22, showed flashes in a largely spotty rookie year. Devaughn Vele, 27, is older, but played his first year in the NFL in 2024. And 22-year-old rookie Pat Bryant has the self-confidence of a 10-year vet. Someone in the room likely needs to step up between now and August as a true WR2 behind Sutton.
Who takes advantage of ILB reps?: Free-agent signee Dre Greenlaw is still around the Broncos’ facility, sources told The Post, but isn’t participating in OTAs while rehabbing a quad injury he sustained in April. Returning linebacker Alex Singleton was cryptically bullish a couple of weeks back on his rehab from an ACL tear, but he may be a limited participant. That could leave the Broncos without their starting linebacker duo for stretches of practice, which would throw the door open for a returner or newcomer to impress.
Perhaps it’s Drew Sanders, who has officially shifted back to inside linebacker. Perhaps it’s former undrafted rookie Levelle Bailey. Perhaps it’s current undrafted rookies Jordan Turner, JB Brown or Karene Reid. Either way, somebody’s going to get a chance to wow Vance Joseph and company across the coming weeks.