Denver loses a starter on cutdown day
The Broncos placed linebacker Jonathon Cooper on the NFL commissioner’s exempt list today, hours before the league’s deadline to trim rosters to 53. Cooper faces domestic violence charges stemming from two arrests in June.
The designation is not a suspension. It removes Cooper from practices and games while the league reviews a possible violation of its personal conduct policy. He continues to be paid, may attend meetings and work out at the team facility, and does not count against Denver’s 53-man roster while the status holds.
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What the charges are
Cooper, 28, is scheduled to be arraigned Monday in Douglas County, Colorado. He faces a felony count of second-degree assault by strangulation and three misdemeanor counts, one of them alleging he violated a protection order.
The first arrest came June 4, following an incident involving his girlfriend. A second followed a week later, when authorities said he contacted her repeatedly and went to her residence despite the order in place.
Denver let Cooper work through training camp and the preseason while the legal process and the league investigation ran their course. He took eight snaps in Friday’s 34-6 preseason win over Minnesota. Sean Payton said afterward that uncertainty around Cooper’s regular-season availability shaped how the staff used him.
Further league discipline remains possible once the review closes.
A significant hole in the pass rush
The numbers explain why this lands hard in Denver. Cooper arrived as a seventh-round pick in 2021 and turned into one of the more durable edge rushers in the league. He has started every game across the past three seasons. Eight sacks or more in each of them, with a career-best 10.5 in 2024 and eight last year. His career total sits at 31.5 in 81 games.
Denver committed to that production during the 2024 season with a four-year, $60 million extension.
A defense built on pressure now opens the year without one of its two constants off the edge, and without a firm timeline for his return. The exempt list carries no fixed length. It ends when the commissioner’s office decides it does.
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