Ever since the Dallas Cowboys shipped Micah Parsons off in a 2025 preseason trade, they’ve been searching for their pass rush. Parsons was a league leader in the sack department and his presence on the roster masked bigger issues elsewhere and resulted in easier opportunities for teammates. Without Parsons, the Cowboys have been leaning on a pass-rush-by-committee approach, and the team most often pointed to as the model for them is none other than the Denver Broncos.
The Broncos, the NFL’s top sack producing team of 2025, have one of the most balanced defenses in the league. Instead of leaning on one or two playmakers to produce plays, it’s a total team effort in Denver, from starters, to rotations, to coaching.
To put things in perspective,
Denver had eight players with four or more sacks last year. Dallas had two. The Broncos had four guys with seven or more sacks. The Cowboys only had one with over six. While Denver schemed up opportunities for everyone, Dallas had trouble finding anyone.
It’s possible the disparity is purely a talent issue, but given the Cowboys posted a higher pressure rate than the Broncos, that may not totally be the case.
It stands to reason, by installing a sophisticatedly deceptive defense such as Denver’s is just what Dallas needs to vault up in the sack department in 2026. There’s just one major thing holding the Cowboys back: they don’t have their Nik Bonitto.
No. 32 on the NFL Top 100 Players of 2026…@Broncos LB Nik Bonitto! @NFLFilms pic.twitter.com/oK4OPMv4Is
— NFL (@NFL) August 7, 2026
Bonitto, often the forgotten man in elite pass rusher discussions, led Denver with 14 sacks last season. The season before, he led the team with 13.5. The last time someone not named Parsons posted double-digit sacks in Dallas was 2019 when Robert Quinn posted 11.5. The Cowboys don’t have anyone like Bonitto on their roster. They’d like to believe someone like Donovan Ezeiruaku or Malachi Lawrence will one day be of that caliber, but until that day comes, the Cowboys are stuck with a blueprint that just doesn’t fit.
The good news is Bonitto wasn’t always Bonitto either. The 6-foot-4, 240-pound pass rusher from Oklahoma was a role player his first two NFL seasons. Those two years, he only started five games and posted 9.5 sacks as a specialist. After breaking out in his third year, he signed a four year, $106 million extension with Denver, becoming the official “war daddy” of their well-rounded defense.
Like Parsons once did in Dallas, Bonitto now occupies the attention of the opposition. It’s opened things up for teammates and essentially allowed Denver to have such an accomplished pool of pass rushers. That’s what the Cowboys need to mimic this blueprint.
Pass rush by committee is cute in theory but in order for it to work like Denver’s, the Cowboys need someone to step up and lead the “committee.”
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This article originally appeared on Cowboys Wire: Cowboys 2026 pass rush blueprint missing one major $106M piece
