The Denver Broncos had one of the strongest defensive line cores in 2025 and are looking to be even better this season. Zach Allen, who earned First-team All-Pro and Pro Bowl honors last season, will be one of the team’s leaders among all of the defensive linemen. Now it’s time to evaluate how Allen currently feels about Denver’s defensive line group.
Broncos’ Zach Allen Confident In Defensive Line
Zach Allen began his NFL career with the Arizona Cardinals before coming to Denver in 2023, and he also built a strong relationship with Tennessee Titans defensive tackle John Franklin-Myers over the last two seasons. Allen expressed his admiration for playing with his former teammate but is ultimately happy for him.
“[Franklin-Myers] is a friend for life, and when you get that type of money, you have to be happy for him,” Allen said. “He was at my wedding, we’re still really close and talk all the time, he’s going to be awesome in Tennessee, and it was a blast playing with him, for the past two years it’s been great.”
Football is a next-man-up sport, which is why Allen is optimistic about what the Broncos’ defensive lineman can accomplish in their upcoming season, even without Franklin-Myers. He also feels their core is full of talent.
“The NFL just moves forward, that’s just the nature of the business,” Allen said. “We’ve got some really good guys here who are stepping up, and it’s been really exciting working with them and just kind of seeing what they do. [Franklin-Myers] and I were getting a lot of the reps, but we’re a really deep group.”
Rookie Tyler Onyedim has already caught Allen’s attention
After Franklin-Myers departed Denver, the Broncos made it a priority to try to fill such a big void by drafting defensive tackle Tyler Onyedim out of Texas A&M with their first pick at 66th overall in the third round of the 2026 NFL Draft. Allen had many positive things to say about Onyedim and noticed many qualities within him that most rookies don’t possess.
“[Onyedim’s] got the hard part done, you can definitely tell he’s got the physical traits, and then he’s got a good attitude about it,” Allen said. “He’s always trying to learn, always asking questions, he really takes the film seriously, which is pretty rare for a young player.”
Even though the Broncos began practicing almost two weeks ago, Allen is excited to play alongside Onyedim as things continue to ramp up before the start of the season.
“[Onyedim’s] been great, it’s been awesome, so really excited just to keep working, and it’s crazy to think it’s only his second week on the job, and when the pads are on, it’s going to be fun,” Allen said.
Since the offseason, Zach Allen has worked on improving how he plays, especially with how often he was double-teamed last season
2025 marked the first time in Allen’s career when he was frequently double-teamed, which was not only a great learning experience for him but also pushed him to find ways to continue making progress in the offseason.
“[Being double-teamed] definitely was something we worked on in the offseason and had some success with,” Allen said. “In this league you kind of always just [have] to keep on finding new ways to get better and adjusting to stuff like that.”
Allen also mentioned how helpful defensive coordinator Vance Joseph is at adjusting to being double-teamed, which creates more opportunities for his teammates. Allen is also hopeful that the Broncos can break the sack record this season, after coming so close last season.
“It also helps when you have [Joseph] dialing stuff up that helps get one-on-ones, we’ve got a lot of good guys, and that’s going to create a lot of great opportunities for people,” Allen said. “We came close to the sack record last year, and we fully expect to break it this year.”
Main Image: Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images
