Denver Broncos DL Malik Jackson proving incredible value

The Super Bowl party lingers on, but the Denver Broncos have some big free agent decisions to make over the next month, especially with defensive lineman Malik Jackson…

Malik Jackson’s value to the Denver Broncos is incredible. Much more than probably most of us can even really know.

Jackson was tabbed a ‘tweener’ coming out of the draft, not a true edge rusher but also not a pure defensive tackle. Therefore, the 3-4 defense is an ideal fit and when the Broncos made the transition under defensive coordinator and assistant coach of the year Wade Phillips, Jackson blossomed.

He doesn’t rack up huge sack numbers, and he probably never will. However, Jackson is a guy who can play with power. He is a guy who can play with speed. He can fend off double teams and he can win one on one matchups. Not only is Jackson one of the team’s premiere pass rushers, he’s an elite run defender and in this league, that’s invaluable.

Where did the Denver Broncos just prove the Super Bowl is won? At the line of scrimmage. They disrupted almost every single passing play Cam Newton and the Panthers ran, and for that reason, Malik Jackson needs to be a very close priority #2 this offseason when Von Miller is taken care of.

Obviously, you can’t win in this league without a quarterback, but the Broncos proved — literally — that they could win a Super Bowl with the worst regular season QB play in the Super Bowl era among championship teams.

Malik Jackson is the type of player that can not only fortify your front, but losing him could be detrimental to the success of other guys you have. The reason the Broncos locked up Derek Wolfe was for this exact reason — they need to be able to work on Miller and Jackson and we haven’t even gotten into the discussion about Danny Trevathan, who is another key player on this defense.

If defense wins championships, you’ve already seen why Jackson’s value to the Broncos is unspeakably high. Find a way to keep him around, Elway.