DENVER — Forgive Jonathon Cooper, if you like. Just don’t forget. The way that you wonder if the Broncos, from owners Carrie Walton Penner and husband Greg to Sean Payton, might be about to forget.

“Strangulation with hypoxia and traumatic brain injury.”

“Patient experienced physical injury.”

“Substantial risk of death … a substantial risk of protracted loss or impairment of the function of any part or organ on the body.”

That’s what a nurse wrote a few months ago after a forensic examination of Cooper’s then-girlfriend. What was the nurse’s agenda, here, other than doing her job?

Remember that when the Broncos outside linebacker, who came off of NFL commissioner Roger Goodell’s exempt list on Friday, takes the field again for the orange and blue.

Because the tea leaves say No. 0’s return to action could come as soon as this upcoming weekend, when the 4-2 Broncos visit 1-4 Arizona on Oct. 25.

We would kindly ask you to remember those nurse’s words whenever your daughter, sister, or niece asks what happened to Cooper. To remember those words when they ask why No. 0 didn’t play for the first six games of the season.

What will you tell them?

Domestic dispute? None of our business? Innocent until proven guilty? He said, she said? That Cooper hasn’t been convicted of anything?

All true.

But will you also tell them Cooper was charged with violating a no-contact order?

Will you tell them that he faces a felony charge of second-degree assault by strangulation? That he was arrested on June 4 and then again on June 11?

Will you tell them that a police affidavit said Cooper’s then-girlfriend alleged that the Broncos defender grabbed her by the neck, lifted her by the neck and threw her to the ground several times during an argument?

And you’re right: What happens in a domestic dust-up between two consenting adults is their concern, not ours.

Adults argue. Adults disagree. But when said disagreement between adults requires a forensic examination by a nurse, you don’t just wave it away as boys being boys. Even if one of the parties could cure what ails your run defense.

Which is why we're curious to see what the Penners do here — or if they do anything at all. Given a chance to send a message to Broncos Country, and, more specifically, to the female fans along the Front Range, the Broncos’ owners have so far deferred to NFL policy. Only now the ball is largely in their court. Cooper is eligible to play. The league is still investigating his two arrests. The Broncos defender has a pretrial hearing slated for Feb. 19 and trial dates of March 2-4.

Cooper posted to Instagram Friday that he’s “grateful” to be able to return to the field and that he’s “working to better” himself. He’s human. You wish him well in that regard and hope like heck it happens.

You also don’t expect Payton, his coach, to take a stand here. His job is to win games, not friends. Like most of Broncos Country, he sees a Super Bowl window in front of him and wants to work with anyone and everyone who’ll help him keep it open for as long as possible, one screen at a time. He’ll simply accede to league protocol and refer any questions on Cooper’s status to the powers above him. If No. 0 is eligible to play, by golly, then Payton, history tells us, is going to play him.

That is, unless his bosses draw a line somewhere.

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And we’ll grant you this: When it comes a potential Cooper return, the football timing couldn’t be better.

One of Cooper’s replacements, outside linebacker Jonah Elliss, was last seen hobbling — although hopping was more like it — on one leg as he left the field during Thursday night’s win over Seattle at Empower Field. The young defender appeared to get his right leg rolled accidentally by a falling Sam Darnold after the Seahawks quarterback had been tackled to the ground by inside linebacker Alex Singleton.

The only real weakness of Broncos defensive coordinator Vance Joseph’s defense a year ago was a running quarterback who was willing to get hit. And hit a lot. (See Mariota, Marcus.) Through the season’s first six games, those weaknesses became twofold: a running QB, and outside zone or stretch runs. It feels as if Seattle took forever to figure that last part out on Thursday night, but once a clearly rattled Darnold felt like taking off, the Broncos were put onto their back heels — and might’ve stayed there if not for Ja’Quan McMillian’s timely interception in overtime.

Does adding Cooper change that? Probably. The Broncos have been extremely inconsistent when it comes to stopping opponents from eating up huge rushing gains outside the tackles. Pro Football Focus graded No. 0’s two understudies, Elliss and Que Robinson, with run defense grades of 50.0 and 50.9 (out of 100), respectively. Cooper had graded out far better defending the run in each of the last two regular seasons– scoring a 66.1 in 2025 and a 71.3 grade in 2024. Then again, linebacker Dondrea Tillman’s run-stopping grade, per PFF, was a robust, Cooperesque 74.9 after Week 6. The Broncos don’t have to sell their souls to fix a flat tire.

Given that a rematch with the hated Chiefs looms on Nov. 1 at Empower Field, you’re going to be even more tempted to forgive. But just know that at least one woman, and her loved ones, won’t forget what happened in June. And neither should you.

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