After the Broncos landed its franchise quarterback, they addressed the defense on Day 2 of the NFL draft.
Denver drafted former Utah edge rusher Jonah Elliss with the 76th overall pick in the third round on Friday night. Elliss will join quarterback Bo Nix, who was selected in the first round (12th overall) on Thursday.
Elliss played in 35 career games (18 starts) at Utah, totaling 78 tackles and 16 sacks — tied for seventh-most for a season in program history. In 2023, he collected 37 tackles (16 for loss), 12 sacks and three passes defended in 10 games before missing the rest of the season due to a shoulder injury that kept him from working out at the NFL scouting combine in February.
Elliss comes from a football family. His father, Luther, was a two-time Pro Bowler who played nine seasons for the Detroit Lions and one with the Broncos. His brothers, Kaden, Christian and Noah, currently play in the NFL.
Elliss will be added to Denver’s young edge rusher group that consists of Nik Bonitto, Baron Browning and Jonathon Cooper. Drew Sanders is a wild card, as the team is debating whether to keep him as an inside linebacker or transition him to full-time edge rusher.
Broncos general manager George Paton likes the team’s depth at outside linebacker after Bonitto (eight sacks) and Cooper (8.5 sacks) posted career-best sack totals. Still, the Broncos were 29th in pressure percentage (18.2%), 20th in sack percentage (6.8%) and tied for 21st in team sack totals (42), according to Pro Football Reference.
The Broncos drafted Utah edge rusher Jonah Elliss on Friday to bolster a pass rush that has been mostly mediocre — and sometimes straight-up bad — in recent years. Here’s a look at some key stats since 2018, which was also the last season the Broncos had a player record double-digit sacks.
| Year | Sacks (rank) | TFLs (rank) | Pass rush win rate (rank) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 42 (22nd) | 71 (30th) | 34% (30th) |
| 2022 | 36 (23rd) | 64 (30th) | 44% (9th) |
| 2021 | 36 (19th) | 65 (20th) | 31% (32nd) |
| 2020 | 42 (9th) | 65 (16th) | 39% (24th) |
| 2019 | 40 (17th) | 79 (13th) | 33% (30th) |
| 2018 | 44 (8th) | 70 (20th) | N/A* |
*Note: Pass rush win rate stats were not available for 2018 because ESPN did not begin publishing this stat for every team until 2019.
EDGE Jonah Elliss
Round/pick: 3rd/No. 76
Age: 21
Height/weight: 6-foot-2/248 pounds
College:Â Utah
Hometown: Moscow, Idaho
Notable:Â Elliss comes from a football family. His father, Luther, was a two-time Pro Bowler who played nine seasons for the Detroit Lions and one with the Broncos. His brothers, Kaden, Christian and Noah, currently play in the NFL. In 2023, he collected 37 tackles (16 for loss), 12 sacks and three passes defended in 10 games before missing the rest of the season due to a shoulder injury that kept him from working out at the NFL scouting combine in February.
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