More details have emerged in the arrest of Broncos linebacker Jonathon Cooper.
Cooper’s long-term girlfriend was also arrested late Thursday night, and both face charges of misdemeanor domestic violence and misdemeanor criminal mischief, Parker Gabriel of The Denver Post reports.
Cooper’s girlfriend accused him of cheating on her, prompting an argument, according to the affidavit. The woman claimed to have taken his phone and thrown it across the room before retrieving it.
Cooper said, via the affidavit, that he grabbed his girlfriend by her upper arms to get his phone. He then “braced his neck against her neck to prevent her from getting it” when she went for his phone again.
Cooper, 28, was booked into Douglas County Jail early Friday morning. He was released on a personal recognizance bond after a hearing on Friday.
He is scheduled for another hearing on Monday.
The NFL and the Broncos released statements acknowledging they are “aware of the matter.”
Broncos Clips
Broncos linebacker Jonathon Cooper was arrested in Colorado on Thursday night.
TMZ reports that Cooper was taken into custody around 11 p.m. and that he is being held on two counts of domestic violence. Cooper also faces one count of criminal mischief.
Cooper is expected to appear before a judge on Friday and another hearing in the case is set for Monday.
“We are aware of the matter and are gathering more information,” the Broncos said in a statement provided to multiple reporters.
Cooper was a 2021 seventh-round pick in Denver. He has started every game over the last three seasons and has recorded 27 sacks over the last three seasons.
The Broncos have just started their Organized Team Activities, and newly acquired wide receiver Jaylen Waddle is already impressing head coach Sean Payton.
Payton said he’s been pleased with what he’s seen from Waddle on the practice field.
“He’s had a good week,’’ Payton said, via the Denver Gazette. “He’s someone who picks things up real quick. He had a real good day [Wednesday]. You can just feel his instincts, his quickness and his ability to really not only run fast, but stop fast. So he’s doing well.”
The Broncos gave up a first-round pick and a third-round pick for Waddle, an investment they wouldn’t have made if they didn’t expect him to provide a big upgrade to their offense. It will take a lot more than looking good at OTAs for that investment to pay off, but so far, Payton likes what he sees.
There was no doubt about Courtland Sutton’s placement in the pecking order of Broncos receivers in 2025, but the team’s biggest offseason move shook up that depth chart.
Jaylen Waddle arrived in a trade with the Dolphins and giving up a first-round pick and more for the wideout made it clear that they have big plans for him in their offense. Those plans could lead to questions about whether he or Sutton is the team’s No. 1 receiver, but it is not a debate that Sutton is interested in having.
“Shoot, you guys know me. We’ve talked for years at this point, and I want to win games,’’ Sutton said, via Mike Klis of KUSA. “I think last year, we saw what it would take for a selfless offense to be able to get to where we want to get to. I don’t think that we have any individuals or personalities in our offense that are saying, ‘Hey, I need this, I need that.’ I think we have a bunch of guys that are willing to put their pride aside and say, ‘What do I need to do for this team to be successful?’ I think us seeing that last year, we got to see what that benefit is in terms of overall team success. I think having that mentality as an offense and team will ultimately get us where we want to get to. . . . The targets will come. I always say, the ball is going to find you no matter what. You just need to go out there and do your job.”
Sutton led the Broncos with 74 catches last season, but Troy Franklin and Evan Engram also had at least 50 catches so the team was already spreading the ball around before Waddle’s arrival. While his presence could mean there will be more of that, there should be enough action to keep everyone involved.
Broncos quarterback Bo Nix wasn’t taking part in Thursday’s OTA practice, but head coach Sean Payton said the team thinks that will change before the end of the offseason program.
Payton said early in May that there was a “good chance” Nix would practice in June and he said that the quarterback has made progress in his recovery from the fractured ankle he suffered in January. Nix had a pair of surgeries to address the injury and Payton said that he believes Nix will be ready for increased
“I think we’ll see him in that role here, you don’t see the pre-practice, but he’s been throwing. And I do think in our third week when you guys are out here for three straight days, I think you’ll see more of a role,” Payton said, via Will Petersen of 104.3 The Fan.
The stretch with media access for three straight days is the team’s mandatory minicamp that starts on June 16. A return for those practices would be a good sign for Nix’s availability for a full workload at the minicamp.
Russell Wilson has made it official.
In a social-media video posted on Wednesday, Wilson announced his retirement from the NFL and confirmed that he will be working for CBS, on The NFL Today.
A third-round pick in 2012, Wilson won the starting job as a rookie, beating out free-agent arrival Matt Flynn.
Wilson made it to the Pro Bowl nine times in 10 seasons with the Seahawks. Traded to the Broncos in 2022, he had two seasons in Denver, one in Pittsburgh, and one with the Giants.
The Jets had interest in adding Wilson as a backup to Geno Smith, who once backed up Wilson in Seattle. Ultimately, Wilson chose TV over continuing to play.
In the years to come, Wilson’s Hall of Fame candidacy will be debated. Former Patriots defensive back Devin McCourty said on Tuesday’s PFT Live that Wilson was in the second tier of NFL quarterbacks during McCourty’s career, which largely overlapped with Wilson’s.
Still, Wilson had a strong run in the NFL. He defied his size, won a Super Bowl, and was the highest-paid player in the NFL, twice.
Broncos cornerback Pat Surtain II is set to make a little more money in 2026.
Agent Tory Dandy told multiple reporters that Surtain has agreed to an adjusted contract with the team. Surtain will get a $5 million raise for the 2026 season and he’ll earn $5 million more in 2027 if he’s named an All-Pro or Pro Bowler come the end of the season. Surtain is a two-time first-team All-Pro and a four-time Pro Bowler after five seasons in the league.
Surtain signed a four-year, $96 million contract extension in 2024 that kicks in this season. At the time of the deal, Surtain had the high-water mark for average annual salary at corner but has slipped down the list since putting pen to paper.
The adjustment addresses that and earning the 2027 pay bump as well will likely have Surtain on track for more contract talks with the Broncos before his current deal is up.
Russell Wilson is staying in New York. But he won’t be playing for the Jets.
Via Adam Schefter of ESPN, Wilson is “finalizing a deal” to become an analyst with CBS.
Wilson will be joining The NFL Today, which currently features James Brown, Nate Burleson, and Bill Cowher. A seat opened when Matt Ryan left to become the Falcons’ president of football.
The Jets were considering Wilson as a veteran backup to Geno Smith, who once was Wilson’s backup in Seattle. Wilson has said he had an offer from the Jets.
It’s rare for any quarterback who was once the highest-paid player in the league to happily accept the second spot on a depth chart. (Joe Flacco is the one of the most significant exceptions.) Wilson was the Giants’ starter when he signed there in 2025, and he was the Steelers’ starter when he signed there in 2024. His days as a starter are and were over.
As to the biggest TV opportunities, those seats don’t always pop open. With Ryan exiting, there was a current opportunity for Wilson. If he didn’t take it now, it may not have been there in a year.
Wilson, a third-round pick out of Wisconsin, started for the Seahawks from 2012 through 2021. He was traded to the Broncos in 2022.
A Super Bowl winner and a 10-time Pro Bowler, Wilson was never a first-team All-Pro or a serious MVP candidate. At 16th on the all-time passing yardage list and 12th on the all-time passing touchdown list, he’ll have a somewhat challenging case to get to Canton.
That’s where a great career in TV can make a difference. Yes, the debate will be about his playing career. And, yes, his case will get stronger if he becomes a successful and enduring presence in NFL broadcast universe.
Now that the Supreme Court has declined to accept the NFL’s last-ditch effort to force all or part of the Brian Flores case into arbitration, the litigation will finally get going.
And the going could get nasty.
By way of background, I have handled many employment cases. From both sides. After working for years at a firm that focused on representing corporate clients that had been sued (no matter how strong or weak a given case may have been), I decided that I was more interested in representing individuals who had cases I believed to be strong.
So I’ve been there, done that. Many times.
Here’s the reality. No company that has been sued for wrongful termination will admit it. The witnesses will have locked into their stories months before it’s time to take the oath to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Proving that the party line is essentially a lie requires a relentless pursuit of circumstantial evidence to contradict the predictable denial of discrimination, retaliation, etc. (For example, if the plaintiff was fired for violating a specific workplace rule, it’s useful to show that others violated the same rule, without being fired or even disciplined.)
This means that, in the Flores case, his lawyers will aggressively pursue deposition testimony from a wide range of witnesses from the league office and the various teams that have been sued (so far, the Dolphins, Broncos, Giants, Texans, Cardinals, and Titans). Plenty of the witnesses (starting with the Commissioner and any owners) will not react well to being verbally poked, prodded, and pressed for anything beyond the predictable default position: “we didn’t do anything wrong.” These witnesses will emerge from the deposition process feeling anywhere from frustrated to flat-out pissed off.
Flores (along with the other plaintiffs, Steve Wilks and Ray Horton) will deal with the same kind of thing. The lawyers representing the NFL and its teams will look for anything they can find to make them look bad. They’ll dig and dig and dig some more to make the process as uncomfortable as it can be. They’ll throw mud at the wall. They’ll throw mud directly at the plaintiffs. They’ll try to catch them in any potential misstatement, big or small, that could then be characterized at trial as a lie.
In the deposition process, there’s a wide range of latitude when questioning a witness. With no jury present, the lawyers don’t have to worry about being so aggressive (to the point of being openly hostile) that it may alienate the people who will decide the case.
This is what I’d typically say to anyone who was interested in suing a current or former employer: “Think of the worst thing about yourself that you wouldn’t want other people to know. You don’t have to tell me what it is. Just think of what it is. Then, think of what would happen if that thing became public. And then assume that, at some point during this litigation, it will.”
The unofficial playbook for lawyers defending corporate clients against claims of illegal employment practices includes turning the tables on the plaintiff in the hopes of making the plaintiff look as bad as possible when it’s time to present the case to a jury. It gets messy. It gets ugly. And, like the Commissioner and owners who are questioned by Flores’s lawyers, Flores will emerge from his deposition feeling anywhere from frustrated to flat-out pissed off.
That’s how it goes. The discovery process becomes the legal equivalent of a street fight. Which could be bad for the league, the teams, and/or Flores, Wilks, and Horton.
As the snippets of deposition testimony come to light, it will be very good for my current business.
Free agent edge rusher Von Miller has expressed a desire to play in 2026. The market, though, has been “quiet” so far, Miller said Wednesday.
Miller’s wish is for a reunion with the Broncos, who traded him to the Rams during the 2021 season. Parker Gabriel of The Denver Post reports that the Broncos haven’t shown interest in signing Miller, but that hasn’t stopped Miller from working General Manager George Paton and head coach Sean Payton.
“I lobby. I do lobby,” Miller said, via Parker. “I lobby publicly. I lobby privately. I do lobby. I think there’s no question the type of environment I bring to a locker room and to a team. I don’t like to pat myself on the back, but at 37 years old I can still roll out of bed and rush the quarterback. I’m still a great guy in the locker room. I bring great energy, and I’m going to make sure everybody is ready to go.”
Miller made nine sacks with the Commanders last season, his most since 2021 when he made 9.5.
“Last year I played 37 percent of the defensive snaps,” Miller said. “Thirty [percent] with the Denver Broncos, and I feel like I can do the same exact thing I did with the Washington Commanders.”
Miller won a Super Bowl with the Broncos, earning MVP honors in the process, and another with the Rams. He would like nothing better than to bring another Lombardi Trophy back to Denver.
He said he would help Nik Bonitto and Jonathon Cooper, and Bonitto recently said it would be “amazing” to be able to learn from Miller.
“Obviously, I wouldn’t start. Obviously, I wouldn’t play special teams,” Miller said. “But I will say, the type of room that we would have, the outside linebackers with me, Nik Bonitto, we’d be a force. Whatever coach we have going on, I would just contribute to that. The defense that we’d have. I’d love to bring back those Super Bowl 50 vibes.
“I would love to assist and be a vice president to Bo Nix and Courtland Sutton. I’ve been the guy and also I’ve been the vice president as well. I’d love to contribute to us getting back to the glory land, holding up that trophy and confetti falling again. For me, my whole entire life, I’ve helped guys be the best version of themselves and I’d love to do that back here with the Denver Broncos back home.”
