The Denver Broncos benefited from the contributions of many unheralded players in 2024. Some you might call sleepers.
Heck, even the star of the Mile High show flew under the radar in rookie quarterback Bo Nix. Almost nobody saw him turning in the historic season he did as a rookie and snapping the Broncos' eight-year playoff drought, his first-round pedigree notwithstanding.
There were several 'secret' studs in Denver this past season, and one of them is getting some recognition from Pro Football Focus. Defensive lineman John Franklin-Myers was named the Broncos' 'Secret Superstar' of the year by PFF.
"You could probably make a list of 10 underrated players based only on Denver’s defense, and Franklin-Myers might be the best-kept secret. After being traded from the Jets to the Broncos, Franklin-Myers was a force yet again, racking up 53 pressures, 23 stops and a team-high 17.8% pass-rush win rate. He has now reached the 50-pressure threshold in five straight years, becoming one of just four players to accomplish that," PFF's Bradley Locker wrote.
Even the Broncos had to have been pleasantly surprised by Franklin-Myers' year-one contributions. After arriving via trade with the New York Jets, 'JFM' finished with a career-high seven sacks in Vance Joseph's league-leading pass rush.
And in tandem with free-agent addition Malcolm Roach, the Broncos had a strong four-man rotation on a defensive line that included All-Pro Zach Allen, D.J. Jones, and Franklin-Myers. The Broncos needed to upgrade the D-line in the offseason, and they did so with two relatively unheralded additions.
It'll be interesting to see what becomes of the Broncos' D-line in 2025, as Jones will be an unrestricted free agent when the New League Year begins in March. Plus, all the guys who remain, as far as the starters and key contributors, are entering a contract year — Allen, Franklin-Myers, and Roach.
Maybe there's a world where the Broncos can re-sign them all. In the end, Jones will probably be allowed to walk while the Broncos look to the free-agent pool and the NFL draft for D-line reinforcements to buy them some time to figure out how to keep the unit together beyond 2025.
