Eyioma Uwazurike‘s role with the Denver Broncos has slowly grown over the years.

The 2022 fourth-round pick out of Iowa State didn’t get on the field much as a rookie. Then a gambling suspension knocked him out for the entire 2023 season. He worked his way back into the picture in 2024.

After establishing himself as part of Denver’s rotation last season, Uwazurike has taken on an even larger workload this year following John Franklin-Myers’ departure. He played the most snaps of his career in Week 1 and earned his first start of the season (and second of his career) in Week 2.

“Shoot, it feels good,” Uwazurike said. “I’m just trying to make the most of it, honestly.”

Uwazurike spoke with DNVR about his expanded role, playing alongside Zach Allen, how Denver’s defensive line is replacing some familiar faces, the challenge presented by the Rams’ running game and why DJ Jones commands so much respect inside the Broncos’ locker room.

Q: How do you feel about the season so far?

Uwazurike: It’s going pretty decent. It’s just the beginning, only two games so far.

Q: With JFM gone, you’ve become an even bigger piece of the defensive line. How does that feel?

Uwazurike: Shoot, it feels good. I’m just trying to make the most of it, honestly.

Q: Do you have a favorite play you’ve made so far this year?

Uwazurike: None so far. Hopefully this weekend.

Trying to make that stand out, make a coming-out play for sure. But it’s been good plays, learning plays so far. Like I said, it’s just early on in the season.

Later on in the season, I’ll probably have a way different answer to this.

Q: What’s it like playing with Zach Allen?

Uwazurike: It’s great. He’s been a really big mentor to a lot of guys on the team this season.

He’s been dialed in and having all of us basically meet with him and making sure our group is all on the same page before every game.

I’ve got my ears open every time we talk. A lot of respect for him, for sure.

Q: There’s more change on the defensive line this year. JFM is gone and Cooper isn’t here right now. For a couple years, you had a pretty consistent group that developed chemistry together. Is it difficult to recreate that when the personnel changes?

Uwazurike: I’d say not really.

Obviously, we knew that when [Franklin-Myers] decided to leave. Obviously, we don’t have Coop right now. But for my room, like I said before, with Zach stepping up and trying to make sure everybody’s on the same page, we go into every game and it’s just like how it was last year for us so far.

It’s just knowing the game plan and knowing what’s going on and how we’re going to attack.

Roach has been stepping up really good on those passing downs, those passing reps for JFM. I’m on the run piece of it. We’ve been handling it.

We’re ready to see how it goes later on down the road.

Q: Last week, it looked like the defensive front started to resemble what we saw last season. Did it feel like things were starting to click again?

Uwazurike: It’s football. At the beginning of the season, nobody’s playing at their best.

You’re going to have those hiccups, mistakes you have to learn from. You have to catch up to the speed of the game. There’s a lot of stuff that comes with it.

I feel like nobody’s really playing at their full potential until around the third game.

Last week, we hopped on it fast. Last week definitely felt like, “Okay, we’re getting back to us.”

Now we can’t wait to see what’s going on this week. And we’re glad it’s a harder opponent, so we know we’re seeing the truth.

Q: The Rams are running the ball really well, even though so much attention goes to their passing game. What stands out about their rushing attack?

Uwazurike: Really good.

We’ve got a lot on our plate this week, and we’re ready to handle that for sure.

We’ve been in and out of the film room dissecting a lot of stuff they’ve got. We’re just ready to put it to work and watch the tape afterward.

Q: Does playing on Sunday Night Football still feel different to you?

Uwazurike: For me personally, it’s the same. For me personally, I prefer early.

But I get the hype of Sunday Night Football and the uniforms and all that stuff.

The game is the game. Especially in this profession, you’ve got to be ready to play whenever. If they say 8 a.m., you’ve got to be ready.

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