ENGLEWOOD – Just before 9 a.m. Eastern Time on Thursday, Sandra Penn was on her way to work in Georgia when she picked up the phone and heard some very good news from her son.

Broncos outside linebacker Nik Bonitto informed his mother he had agreed to a lucrative contract extension. Penn soon mentioned to Bonitto about when he first played football in South Florida 20 years ago for the Miramar Panthers at age 5.

“I was like, ‘Nik, remember your first time playing football and you didn’t want to play?’’’ Penn, a registered nurse, told The Denver Gazette. “I remember he used to cry when we took him out there. So I told him, ‘Look at you now,’ and he started laughing.”

Bonitto certainly made a good decision sticking with football. On Thursday, he signed a four-year, $106 million contract extension, making him the highest-paid player on the team and the highest-paid non-quarterback in Broncos history. The deal includes $70 million in guaranteed money and could be worth as much as $120 million with incentives.

Bonitto, 25, had been entering the final year of a rookie contract that had him on the books to make $5.346 million in 2025. His new deal takes him through 2029.

“A lot of tears,’’ Bonitto said after a practice at Broncos Park about the emotions he experienced Thursday. “I think I probably ran out of tears to last a year. Just talking with my mom, my dad (Vince Bonitto), my brother (Gerrard Bonitto), my agent (Tory Dandy). It was a whole bunch of emotions going through me (Thursday) morning.”

That included some emotions of excitement. After the deal was done, he posted a video online of him dancing and singing “Richer” by rapper Rod Wave. He laughed about how the video “is going viral”

The $26.5 million average salary of Bonitto’s new deal makes him the NFL’s 10th-highest-paid edge rusher. He surpasses defensive lineman Zach Allen, who signed a four-year, $102 million deal on Aug. 2, for being the highest-paid player on the Broncos.

Bonitto, entering his fourth season, signed his extension three days before the regular season starts Sunday against the Tennessee Titans at Empower Field at Mile High. Since the start of training camp, the Broncos have handed out $300 million worth of extensions. That included wide receiver Courtland Sutton getting a four-year, $92 million deal on July 28.

“I’m very happy for him,’’ star cornerback Pat Surtain II, who signed a four-year, $96 million extension last September and had been Denver’s highest-paid player until being surpassed by Allen, told The Denver Gazette. “It’s well deserved. I’ve just seen him grow and grow as a player and as a person each and every year. Once you make money like that, it’s life-changing money. He’s earned every penny since he’s been in the league.”

Negotations took place for the bulk of the summer. Bonitto said Dandy informed him they “would probably lead up to” the week of the first game.

“I never had any doubts it would get done,’’ Bonitto said. “He just told me keep working my butt off, keep preparing for Tennessee, and just keep being ready to dominate and he’ll handle the rest.”

Bonitto had plenty of dominating moments during a breakout season in 2024, when he had 13.5 sacks. After being a second-round pick in 2022 out of Oklahoma, he had struggled as a rookie, having just 1.5 sacks. But Bonitto began to come on in 2023, when he had eight sacks.

Bonitto said he perhaps could have made more money had he waited to sign a new deal. But he ultimately decided he didn’t want to risk anything and that a top priority was remaining with the Broncos.

“That’s stuff that we talked about, whether it was like playing this year knowing the confidence I have in myself and the year I was going to have to where we could make more,’’ he said. “But it’s like if you look at all of the things that are in front of us right now, we’re a really good football team. I’m a guy that I feel like is continuing to grow. Just being around the team like this that’s continuing to get better and better, why wouldn’t I want to set myself up to play here now, and continue to grow and build with these guys?”

Roger Harriott, Bonitto’s coach at St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., saw Bonitto often early in the summer before he reported to training camp. He said money won’t change him.

“If anything, he’ll probably be even more humble and grateful as a result,” Harriott told The Denver Gazette. “That’s not always the case when somebody is issued a substantial amount of money. … But Nik, he becomes more gracious. It’s very refereshing to see someone of that status be so humble and modest when it comes to that type of financial recognition and gain.”

When asked about being known for being humble and modest, Bonitto said that is “100%” accurate.

“Obviously, it’s nice to have some money now, but that’s not the end goal for me,’’ Bonitto said.

Penn said Bonitto drives a Dodge SUV even though friends have suggested previously that he get a Mercedes. She wouldn’t be surprised if he continues driving the Dodge.

“He’s the most humble person,’’ Penn said of how Bonitto might celebrate his big extension. “He’ll probably go home to his dog and play video games all day. His life is football, video games and his dog Astro (a 6-year-old mixed lab and ridgeback).”

During the negotiating process, Broncos defensive coordinator Vance Joseph said Bonitto’s character stood out.

“He’s still growing as a player,’’ Joseph said. “He’s so humble. He’s working every single day. He’s a guy who was negotiating a contract the entire camp and never said one word about not practicing. He never said one word about sitting out and he played with a foot injury for two weeks and didn’t say a word.”

After having a dominant showing in two series in Denver’s first preseason game, a 30-9 win at San Francisco on Aug. 9, Bonitto sat out a week due to a procedure to remove a bone spur from his foot. He didn’t play in the next two preseason games but is now fully healthy entering Sunday’s opener.

Bonitto said Joseph has played a key role in his development. After he struggled as a rookie, he said Joseph called him into his office when he arrived in Denver in 2023 along with new head coach Sean Payton.

“He’s just like, ‘Nik, you know you can be a double-digit sack guy in this league,’’’ Bonitto said. “I’m like, ‘Are you sure you brought the right guy in here? I just had a one-sack season.’ He had ultimate confidence in me, and it’s paid off.”

It sure has. And on Thursday morning, Bonitto delivered the good news to his mother shortly before it came out publicly.

“After I got to work, my phone was ringing off the hook,’’ said Penn, who works at Life Care Center of Gwinnett (County) in Lawrenceville, Ga., outside of Atlanta. “When I looked at the phone at one point (in the morning), I had 33 missed texts of congratulations and over 20 calls. I’m so proud of Nik.”

And to think all of this might not have happened had Bonitto not stuck it out with the Miramar Panthers 20 years ago.