Broncos Film Room: Can Tyler Onyedim be the next John Franklin-Myers

6 hours ago

The Broncos’ goal with Onyedim is to turn him into a dominant interior pass rusher. He has the correct combination of upper-body strength and quick feet to threaten quarterbacks.

This chop-swim move is his best pass-rush move at the moment…

Here’s another one…

Onyedim’s pass-rush arsenal is not fleshed out yet. The move above is his bread-and-butter, but he’s still working on counters.

But he’s flashed the ability to win in multiple ways.

That spin move was beautiful. The hit on Arch Manning was even better.

Onyedim only had 2.5 sacks last year. His 8.5 tackles for loss are a little more encouraging. The raw tools jump off the screen but the polish isn’t there yet.

The lack of polish shows up in a number of ways. One example is his shallow arsenal of pass-rushing moves. Another is a mild penchant for blown assignments.

On this play, Onyedim redirects his rush inside, vacating his rush lane. Despite the rest of the rushers creating havoc, Onyedim allows an escape lane.

This is the type of play that would keep Onyedim off the field in Denver. The Broncos’ rush plan on each play is impeccable. Everybody stays in their lane. They work off of each other to create space. Zach Allen won’t let this type of mistake stand.

That’s part of what makes the NFL a different game than college football. Onyedim is able to beat SEC blockers off of a raw talent advantage. That’s what makes him such a valuable prospect. But in the NFL, you have to win the right way.

Here’s an example.

Every defender is responsible for a gap on this play. His job is to not let the running back through that gap. That simple. Onyedim’s job is to win the gap between the center and the right guard.

But instead he goes all the way around the center and circles back. It works. He’s athletic enough to slide through a different gap and still cut back to make the play.

In the NFL, this won’t slide.

And it occasionally caught up to him in college, too.

This the key moment, when Onyedim sheds to the right, which allows him to defend a gap that is already being defended by No. 4. Onyedim’s gap is left open and Texas gets a big play out of it.