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The Denver Broncos are exploring various options for their linebacker positions ahead of the 2026 season, with Nik Bonitto and Jonathon Cooper confirmed as outside starters. Inside linebacker roles remain uncertain, with potential changes including moving Jonah Elliss from outside to inside.
Report suggests Broncos will be trying everything at linebacker in 2026 originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The Denver Broncos will have an interesting group of linebackers leading into the 2026 season.
The only thing that is for sure, at least as of right now, is that Nik Bonitto and Jonathon Cooper will be starting on the outside. On the inside, things are much more up in the air.
Alex Singleton and Justin Strnad were both re-signed this offseason and will be the projected starters. But the Broncos could add depth in the draft and there was the news that the team will look to move third-year linebacker Jonah Elliss from the outside to the inside.
It will be interesting to see how Elliss transitions to that role, but according to Zac Stevens of DNVR Sports, the Broncos will be moving Drew Sanders back to the outside. Sanders will be entering his fourth year in the league. He has played in just four games across the past two seasons after missing the entire 2025 season with an injury.
Nik Bonitto and Jonathon Cooper are confirmed as the starting outside linebackers for the Broncos in 2026.
The Broncos may add depth through the draft and are considering moving Jonah Elliss from outside linebacker to inside linebacker.
Drew Sanders is expected to be moved back to outside linebacker after missing the entire 2025 season due to injury.

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Sanders was a third-round pick out of Arkansas in 2023 and he came into the league as a tweener, seen as a player who could play inside or outside linebacker. The Broncos have tried him at both spots, but now see his best chance to be a contributor on the team coming as an outside linebacker.
This news comes on the same day as the team announcing that outside linebacker Dondrea Tillman has signed a one-year exclusive rights tender with the team. The Broncos have options at the outside linebacker spot already in place and the team is thin on the inside, even if Elliss is eventually moved into that slot. That makes this an interesting decision.
However, there is just as good a chance that Sanders doesn't even make the roster following the preseason. The front office may already see this as a possibility and want to give him the best chance to succeed.