“Pick your poison”: An exclusive look inside the Denver Broncos’ pass rush

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — In the fourth quarter of the Denver Broncos’ game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, John Franklin-Myers was on a heater. He had already sacked Jags quarterback Trevor Lawrence twice. Fellow Broncos defensive lineman Zach Allen found Franklin-Myers on the sideline.

“Hey man, what can I do to get you another sack?” Allen asked Franklin-Myers.

Alle, 28, was coming off an All-Pro season in which he had received votes for the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year Award. Four months before the Jacksonville game, Allen had signed a four-year, $102 million extension. A month after the game, Allen would be named an All-Pro once again.

But against the Jaguars, Allen’s job wasn’t to be a superstar. His job was to set the table so Franklin-Myers could eat.

“Zach didn’t have any sacks that game,” Franklin-Myers told DNVR. “He’s not selfish at all. There’s multiple people who make that amount of money who are very, very selfish. And coaches put them in that position to be selfish. And they should; they make $30 million.”

The decision for Franklin-Myers to be Batman and Allen to be his Robin was not a decision that the Broncos made. The Jaguars’ coaching staff made that decision.

Jacksonville’s game plan on passing downs was to double-team Allen using a guard and the center. On the edge, the Jags didn’t want to leave All-Pro pass rusher Nik Bonitto one-on-one with their tackle. Instead, they chipped Bonitto with a tight end or running back, helping the tackle to set the block.

With resources allocated toward Allen and Bonitto, Franklin-Myers and Jonathon Cooper, the Broncos’ other edge rusher, had one-on-one matchups.

“It’s just so hard with the guys that we have up front,” Bonitto told DNVR. “You’ve got to pick your poison. Whoever doesn’t get doubled is going to win their matchup every time.”

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The Broncos have the NFL’s best pass rush. Again.

Denver’s 68 sacks were the most in the NFL, 11 more than any other team in the league. Last year, the Broncos led the NFL with 63 sacks.

Over the past two years, the Broncos’ 131 sacks are the most in the NFL. No other team has triple digits. Only the 1984 and 1985 Chicago Bears have more sacks in a two-year span in NFL history.

Denver’s defense wanted the all-time sack record this year. Halfway through the season, they were on pace. Ultimately, the Broncos came up short.

Finishing fifth all-time in sacks is an impressive accomplishment, nonetheless.

How does Franklin-Myers feel about the achievement?

“It’s tough…” Franklin-Myers told DNVR before trailing off and taking a moment to choose his words. “It’s similar to making the playoffs. You get into this group—maybe a little different because that’s a very select group—but each year it’s a select group. It’s nice to be a part of it. But there’s that meat left on the bone. Four sacks away. That’s where it just hurts. It’s great to see it, but it’s not No. 1.”

Before the back-to-back NFL-leading seasons, the Broncos had back-to-back seasons outside the top 20 in sacks. The rebirth of the Broncos’ pass rush was a years-long process.

When Sean Payton took over as head coach in 2023, he chose Vance Joseph to be his defensive coordinator. Joseph, who was previously the coordinator of the Arizona Cardinals’ defense, decided to bring Allen with him from Arizona to Denver. 

When Allen arrived in Denver, he realized immediately that Bonitto could be special. He told the coaching staff that he wanted to play next to him.

“I was like, ‘This is my guy. I want to be with Nik,’” Allen said.

In hindsight, wanting to play next to Bonitto is obvious. He was an All-Pro last season and earned his second Pro Bowl invitation this year.

But back in 2023, Bonitto wasn’t a superstar. He was a former second-round pick who didn’t do much in his rookie season. He wouldn’t become a starter until the 2024 season.

“The beauty of Nik is that he’s so freaking fast,” Allen said.

In the Broncos’ standard pass rush, Bonitto is on the right edge, and Allen aligns as the right defensive tackle. Bonitto’s burst off the edge draws the offense’s left tackle upfield, creating a massive space for Allen to play with in the B gap.

“For me, a guy who doesn’t run off the ball, I hate,” Allen said. “If he doesn’t run off the ball, then that tackle is on me. I have no space to work, and then I’m running into, basically, a double. That’s not gonna help anybody.”

Bonitto and Allen have learned how to play together. Parts of the process took time, but eventually they learned to see the game the same way. They know each other’s strengths and how to magnify them.

“Whether I’m going high and he’s able to have that two-way go, or if we want to do a U game, knowing that a lot of tackles is going to be scared of my speed and he’s able to just pick off the tackle so that I can come underneath,” Bonitto said. “Just working stuff like that and even natural games. I think we’ve been really good at it.”

Allen had worked through this chemistry-building process before. When he was a rookie, he joined J.J. Watt on the Cardinals. The first year was rough. The second year was sharp.

“It was my fault because I was young and inexperienced, and I didn’t know why I was doing certain things,” Allen said. “It took us until that second year together for us to really start clicking. That’s when we both had really good seasons.”

Before the 2024 season, Franklin-Myers and Malcolm Roach joined the team. Allen’s first hint that the Broncos’ might have something special brewing came in OTAs. He clicked with Franklin-Myers immediately.

“From Day 1, we were really reading off of each other,” Allen said. “We see the game the same way, which is pretty rare.”

“Pass rush is like an art,” Franklin-Myers said. “When you’re looking at how to break down offensive linemen, there’s multiple ways. Everybody has a difference of opinion.”

Not Franklin-Myers and Allen, though. They watch film separately. When they come together, they have the same ideas in mind.

“Never do you see two people have a similar plan after watching the tape,” Franklin-Myers said. “But you watch the tape, you say, ‘Look at this, this is what I see. What do you see?’ He’s saying the same thing. It’s almost kind of weird.”

Allen got his wish and played next to Bonitto on his right side. Franklin-Myers has fit perfectly on his left.

“Training camp practice three, we’ve got this in the bag already,” Allen said.

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Rookie outside linebacker Que Robinson spent most of his season with a front-row seat to the Broncos’ pass rush. He’s earned some rotational work when injuries have arisen, getting a jersey on six game days.

But he’s proud to say he contributed to the most productive pass rush in Broncos history.

“I put my little half a sack in there,” Robinson told DNVR with a laugh. “It’s special for me just being here. My name is on there. It might be smaller than everybody else’s, but my name is on there.”

Robinson, 24, was the Broncos’ fourth-round pick this spring out of Alabama. He didn’t get much playing time in the Bama defense, but his rushing efficiency when he was on the field ranked among the best in college football. His freaky physical traits gave him the profile of a productive NFL player.

As expected, his role as a rookie is limited. He’s behind Bonitto, Cooper, Jonah Ellis and Dondrea Tillman, all of whom have solidified themselves as staples of the Broncos’ defensive game plan. Sitting on the bench can be hard. It can be particularly hard when the Broncos’ contracts indicate that the group could stick together for the next three seasons.

“It gets frustrating, but it’s been my story since high school and college, you know what I’m saying?” Robinson said. “Just sitting behind some great dudes learning from them. Then, obviously, once I get an opportunity, make the most of it, man. You’ve gotta think about it. These guys have been a tremendous help, not necessarily just on the field, in the meeting rooms, here in the locker room. Just letting me know that I’m doing good, you know? So, yeah. All of that helps, but of course it could be frustrating as a competitor.”

The Broncos’ depth along the defensive front is one of its most important assets. The ability to rotate waves of bodies into the trenches and continue to find ways into the backfield with the starters on the sideline is how you produce a massive sack total.

While Robinson, like any competitor, would love to spend more time on the field, Allen is enjoying some time off the field. His snap count dropped by 17% this year, even though he played in one more game in 2024. This was part of a concerted effort to keep him fresher.

“Honestly, my body feels better,” Allen said. “I mean, I can handle the workload, but I think last year, end of the season, you’re dealing with some stuff. I still think I played well, but you could tell when you watch the film. This year I think you could definitely watch and see it’s just been kind of a steady improvement.”

Allen was iron man in 2024. He played 89% of the Broncos’ defensive snaps, an absurd rate for a lineman. This year, he played 71%.

“I still could go out and take 70, 80, 90 reps in a game, but also we’ve got a lot of good guys right now,” Allen said. “You can go in waves with fresh guys.”

Adding in a bye week instead of a Wild Card Round playoff game helps, too.

“It was weird, because usually if you’re home that much at this point in the season it means you didn’t make the playoffs,” Allen said. “But the body does feel a lot better.”

The question now is how the Broncos will deploy Allen and the rest of the Broncos’ starters in the playoffs. Will they keep the same rotation as the regular season, allowing everybody to stay as fresh as possible? Or would ramping up the snaps for the top dogs give the Broncos more production?

Robinson would love to be on the field, of course. If he’s not, he’ll be thrilled to be part of the team.

“It’s pretty cool for me to feel involved,” Robinson said.

He’s a football junkie. Like most of Broncos Country, he was locked into the first round of the playoffs over the weekend. He loves meetings. He thinks Vance Joseph is a genius.

“Just being able to learn from him, to see how he thinks, and see why he makes these calls, why he wants to make these adjustments,” Robinson said. “Once you learn all that, man, I feel like you learn football inside and out.”

As a pass rusher and football junkie, he was a fan of the No Fly Zone defense.

“That was the craziest defense ever,” Robinson said. “Just seeing when they play against Carolina. Just seeing how they dismantled that team, bro. It was crazy.”

Could the Orange Rush nickname stick for this year’s defense?

Robinson said it isn’t his place to decide.

“I like whatever, bro,” Robinson said. “Look, I’m just participating, bro. Like I said, my name ain’t in the big bold letters. I’m just happy to be included.”

Bonitto’s name is in those big bold letters. What does he think of the nickname?

“I don’t know if we get any nicknames yet,” Bonitto said. “We’ve got to win the Super Bowl like those guys did.”

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If you looked at the stat sheet, you might think that there was something wrong with Allen when the Broncos played the Cincinnati Bengals.

“Cincinnati, for me, was a shitty day,” Allen said.

But it was Allen’s performance that was the problem.

“I had the center slide all day,” Allen said.

With double-teams on every snap, Allen’s impact was mitigated. Other Broncos had one-on-ones because of the resources sent Allen’s way. In other words, Allen had the “hard down” on every snap.

The instinctive reaction for a football player is to try to fight through the double-team and get to the quarterback. Typically, that isn’t the right answer, though. The odds of a win are slim, so trying to position yourself to set up or cover for a teammate is the way to help the team.

“It’s a really special group because it’s an unselfish group,” Allen said. “The guys understand who has the hard down. You’ve just gotta accept it.”

Accepting that trying to get to the quarterback is futile can be easier said than done. In the NFL, sack totals can dictate contracts and careers. 

Take Bonitto for example. He finished with 54 points in All-Pro voting this season. Aidan Hutchinson finished with 55 points, earning him the final All-Pro spot for an edge rusher. Hutchinson had 14.5 sacks. Bonitto had 14 sacks. If Bonitto had gotten to the quarterback one more time this season, he likely would have been an All-Pro.

And if Bonitto had set his sights on the quarterback when he was double-teamed instead of accepting that he had the hard down and working to help out his teammates, he probably would’ve gotten that sack.

Bonitto, an unselfish player, doesn’t see it that way. He points the finger at himself.

“It’s a bunch of stuff you can look at,” he said. “Even the sacks that I missed this year. I missed plenty.”

Franklin-Myers is the only member of the Broncos’ defensive front who isn’t under contract for 2026. He’ll hit free agency this offseason. Plenty of teams will be interested in his services. Odds are he will price himself out of Denver.

But he isn’t over-extending for sacks, even though he could probably make himself millions more dollars.

“I want everyone to succeed, you know?” Franklin-Myers said. “That’s the only way I can play. I couldn’t live with myself being out there and only trying to do things to make me successful. It’s just not for me.”

He’s proud that the entire trench unit feels the same way.

“With a guy like Nik or Zach or DJ or anybody here—Cooper’s the same way—those guys have every right, especially Nik and Zach, to say, ‘Look, man. This is for me. Y’all pay me,’” Franklin-Myers said.

The 29-year-old turns his focus back to the Jacksonville game, when Allen wanted to find a way to get Franklin-Myers a third sack, despite not having one of his own.

“It just kind of speaks to the person,” Franklin-Myers said. “It makes it easy to say, ‘Man, it’s Zach’s turn? Cool.’”

“The beauty of this group is everybody understands their role,” Allen said. “I truly believe Coop could easily be a 15-sack guy if he was somewhere else just getting one-on-ones all day, but he’s unselfish and, ‘Hey, I need power on this edge, because we have this game inside,’ or stuff like that. I think Nik can be a 20-sack guy, but again he’s one of the most unselfish rushers there is. I think John and I can both be double-digit guys.”

Instead, the Broncos’ pass rushers do something tougher than getting to the quarterback.

“You accept the hard downs.”