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The NFL has placed Broncos outside linebacker Jonathon Cooper on the commissioner’s exempt list, a league spokesman confirmed to The Athletic. His placement on the list comes in the wake of two arrests resulting from domestic incidents with his then-girlfriend in June.
Cooper will be paid his full salary while on the exempt list, but he can’t play in games or practice with the team. He may attend meetings and receive treatment at the team facility. Commissioner Roger Goodell has sole discretion to place a player on the list or remove them from it. The exemption is typically used for players with pending legal cases and/or those still under league investigation.
The duration of time players spend on the exempt list has ranged from a few days to an entire season, and there’s no indication yet as to how long Cooper could remain on the list. The NFL could still suspend him.
“In regard to Jonathon being placed on the commissioner’s exempt (list), it’s part of the process,” Broncos general manager George Paton said. “We continue to take this very seriously. We’re going to monitor all the legal developments and continue to support Jonathan. Jonathan has worked very hard to better himself, and it will be good to have him in the building, being in meetings and just being part of the team.”
Cooper will not count against the 53-man roster while he’s on the exempt list. The most likely player to take his spot in the starting lineup is Jonah Elliss, a third-year player selected in the third round of the 2024 NFL Draft out of Utah. Elliss has 7.5 career sacks for the Broncos, including five during his rookie season. He missed four games last season due to injury.
Cooper’s absence will also mean a larger role for Que Robinson, a fourth-round pick out of Alabama last year who sacked New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye once in the AFC Championship Game. Robinson also had a sack in Denver’s second preseason game against the Green Bay Packers.
“These guys have all played in big games and done well,” Paton said. “All these guys, we feel like, can play. We like the depth there. We led the league in sacks the past two years, and these guys were all a part of that.”
Cooper was initially arrested June 4 after police were called to his apartment following an altercation with his then-girlfriend. He was initially charged with domestic violence and misdemeanor criminal mischief. The charges were later upgraded to include felony second-degree assault by strangulation after a further review of the incident that included a report from a nurse who examined the woman the night of the initial incident. The nurse wrote in her report at the time that the woman suffered “serious bodily injury” that was consistent with “strangulation with hypoxia” and “traumatic brain injury,” according to an arrest affidavit.
Cooper was arrested a second time June 11 on a charge of violating a protection order put in place after the initial incident. He is due to appear for an arraignment hearing on Monday. He was excused from the Broncos’ minicamp in mid-June following the second arrest, but he reported to training camp along with the rest of the team on July 28 and has participated in every practice. He also started the first preseason game in Atlanta.
A seventh-round pick of the Broncos in 2021, Cooper finished second on the team last season with eight sacks. He had a career-high 10.5 sacks in 2024 and signed a four-year extension in November of that season that came with $33 million in guarantees.
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