The Denver Broncos have another young pass rusher.
Elliss, 21, was the 76th overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. He’s an edge rusher out of Utah, where he started each of the past two seasons. He ranked seventh in the nation with 12 sacks in 2023, despite missing the final three games of the year with a partially-torn labrum. He earned consensus All-America honor.
Elliss comes from a football family. His father, Luther, was a 10-year NFL veteran who played his final season withe the Broncos in 20024. He returned to be the team’s chaplain, holding that role for Denver’s Super Bowl 50 run.
Jonah’s brother Christian is a Patriot. His brother Kaden is a Falcon. His brother Noah was an Eagle for the past two years, but is currently a free agent.
Jonah is the best prospect of the bunch, which is how he earned a spot in the top 100 picks of the draft.
I cut up 21 plays to break down what Jonah will bring Denver. Half are from his game against UCLA, which was the best of his collegiate career. The other half are against Washington… which didn’t go so well.
Let’s dig in…
Pass Rush vs. UCLA
Elliss dominated the Bruins’ tackles. They couldn’t stop him.
Elliss’ best move—the one that will make him tens of millions of dollars if all goes well—is his spin move.
The spin move is the moneymaker, but Elliss isn’t a one-trick pony.
Elliss has fre space to spin inside because tackles respect his speed rush. While Elliss didn’t run sprints at the combine because of the torn labrum, his burst shows up on tape. He can beat a tackle off the line and bend around him to get to the quarterback.
Elliss wins inside, too. He can dip past tackles who are expecting him to charge upfield.
Even when Elliss doesn’t win cleanly inside, he has the power to drive tackles back before slipping inside them.
Elliss put on a clinic against the Bruins. He won nearly every rep. They couldn’t solve him. He finished with 3.5 sacks. He looked like a first-round pick.
Run Defense vs. UCLA
The skills that make Elliss special as a pass rusher help him in the running game as well.
Look how slippery he is.
Adding power to the mix works on the ground just like it does in the air.
Elliss is polished, too. He isn’t over-aggressive. He ensures he plays his responsibility by keeping the edge sealed on his way to this tackle for loss.
Elliss is undersized, but he’s more than willing to take on pulling blockers.
The Washington Game
All of the previous clips are awesome. Elliss blasted the Bruins and about half of the other teams on his schedule, too.
But the Bruins don’t have NFL tackles. The Washington Huskies, on the other hand, do.
Left tackle Troy Fautanu was the 20th overall pick in the draft.
Right tackle Roger Rosengarten was a second-round pick.
Elliss played most of the game against Rosengarten, but had a handful of reps against Fautanu. We’re going to start with his work against Rosengarten.
The spin move that was automatic against the Bruins, wasn’t so sharp against Rosengarten. At just over 6-foot-5 with 33-1/2-inch arms, Rosengarten was able to keep Elliss within reach.
The other stuff that worked against the Bruins oftentimes didn’t work against Rosengarten, either.
The worst rep was when Rosengarten stuffed Elliss, and then the guard came over to clean him up.
Fautanu had similar success.
Elliss put together a couple of decent rushes, but he never got home.
When Elliss won, the ball was out too quickly for his win to matter. This was a theme throughout the game. Elliss rarely had a chance to create pressure on a second effort, because the ball had already been thrown.
In the running game, Elliss fared better than I expected. He received few opportunities, but the size of the Washington tackles didn’t overwhelm him. He looked quick.
Where does Jonah fit in Denver?
Elliss has a great arsenal of pass-rush moves. He’s bursty enough to get the edge. He’s strong enough to rip or duck inside and win. His spin move is special. Really special.
You can’t argue with the results. He’s one of two Power 5 players who had at least 12 sacks last season. The other was Laiatu Latu of UCLA, the first edge rusher off the board in the draft.
The question is whether his success will translate against next-level tackles, like the ones he faced in the Washington game. At 6-foot-2 and 248 pounds, he’s slightly undersized. That leaves him at a disadvantage. It’s worth remembering that the Broncos’ edge rushers aren’t a particularly big group, though. Jonathon Cooper is listed at 257 pounds, but Nik Bonitto and Baron Browning are only 240 pounds. Drew Sanders is 233 pounds. The big bodies, Bradley Chubb and Randy Gregory, are gone.
Elliss turned 21 in April. His body could fill out more. He’s put on 14 pounds over the past two years. He could put on another dozen and be considered a bigger outside backer. If that’s the case, he could be a great fit as an end in the Broncos’ nickel defense. If he’s stout enough to push tackles backward in the running game and hold his ground against double-teams, the Broncos could have a very valuable player on their hands.
Elliss doesn’t figure to be an elite run-stuffer right away though. Setting the edge against NFL tackles will be a challenge. If you’re looking for hope, remember that Von Miller entered the NFL with similar concerns in the run game. Miller was only half an inch and two pounds bigger than Elliss, but turned out to be a force in the ground game. Expecting Elliss to be Miller is obviously crazy, but Miller is proof that 250-pounders can be capable run defenders from the edge spot.
Elliss should provide an immediate spark to the Broncos’ edge-rushing group. I believe there’s a world in which he is the team’s most-productive rusher in his rookie season, although betting on Browning or Bonitto is probably safer. Regardless, he’ll receive plenty of opportunities.
Elliss played defensive end at Utah, so his transition to outside linebacker in the Broncos’ 3-4 system might take some time. I don’t expect to see him on the field in the Broncos’ base defense early in the season. They have plenty of other options, and there’s no need to force him onto the field before he’s ready. His reps should come in the nickel defense and expand from there.
If Elliss doesn’t receive the primary pass-rushing reps on the edge immediately, he could make sense as an interior rusher, where his spin move should devastate guards and centers.
Elliss is a smart, well-coached prospect, who is coming off one of the most dominant seasons of any rusher in the nation. He feels like a completed project, but he isn’t. There’s still room for growth, but he starts with a high floor. Even if NFL length turns out to be his kryptonite as a rusher, there are plenty of poor tackles in the NFL and Elliss has proven he can have a field day against them.
If Elliss fills out without losing his burst, he could be a versatile rusher with a signature spin move who produces double-digit sacks every year. That’s why the Broncos added him to an already-deep group.
If you want to get even more excited, this video will do the trick…
