The Broncos might have fallen short Sunday at Baltimore, but they got a big piece of business done the day before.
Denver and outside linebacker Jonathon Cooper agreed to a four-year contract extension worth up to $60 million on Saturday, multiple sources confirmed to The Post on Monday.
Cooper and the team finalized the deal in Maryland and Cooper signed the paperwork at the team hotel, a source said.
The contract is a deserved one for the 2021 seventh-round draft pick, who is playing the best football of his career and is in the final year of his rookie contract.
News of the extension broke minutes after Denver traded fellow outside linebacker and fellow 2021 draft pick Baron Browning to Arizona for a sixth-round pick.
Cooper’s deal comes with $33 million in guarantees. Had he hit the open market this spring, he might have gone above those numbers and toward what Minnesota gave Jonathan Greenard (four years and up to $76 million), but Cooper wanted to stay in Denver and would have had to make it through the second half of the season healthy in order to fully maximize his leverage. Instead, the sides came to a midseason agreement.
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Cooper has 5.5 sacks this season. He’s started all 26 games for Denver since Sean Payton became the head coach before the 2023 season and dating back further than that he’s played in 38 straight games for Denver and started 37 of them.
“‘Coop’ has been a joy to coach the last two years,” defensive coordinator Vance Joseph said last month. “He’s the same person every day. His energy, his toughness and his focus in always on point. He’s a guy that allows you to change the culture because of how he works every day on and off the field. It’s contagious, and guys have to match his intensity.
“He’s been that way for two years that I’ve been here. It doesn’t change on game day. He is a fully engaged, full-speed, physical player.”
Cooper is the first Denver player to receive an in-season contract extension since wide receivers Courtland Sutton and Tim Patrick did during the 2021 bye week.
The exact terms of the deal were not immediately known Monday, but Denver will likely convert the rest of his eligible $3.116 million base salary for 2024 to signing bonus in order to create a bit more room and then prorate the rest of the bonus over the four extension years. Cooper is now under contract in Denver through the 2028 season.
This story will be updated.
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