The Denver Broncos made a sensational trade last year when they acquired defensive lineman John Franklin-Myers from the New York Jets for a future late-round pick swap. The addition of Franklin-Myers was a game-changer for the Broncos defensively and helped elevate a horrendously thin unit in 2023 to one of the best defensive lines in the entire NFL in 2024.
You would think the Broncos would be prepared to pay Franklin-Myers accordingly, but keeping the entire band together on the defensive line could be a stickier situation than it sounds on paper. The Broncos already re-signed DJ Jones to a three-year deal this offseason and have three other notable looming free agents on the defensive front: Franklin-Myers, Malcolm Roach, and All-Pro Zach Allen.
With three key looming free agents and only one player under contract after the 2025 season, the Broncos will have to re-sign some of their guys but they could also move aggressively to add someone on the defensive line early in the 2025 NFL Draft. Sean Payton's comment about that position group could put one of the starters on thin ice.
John Franklin-Myers on thin ice if Broncos draft a DL in 1st round?
“When you’re kind of putting this cube together, part of it is understanding what’s available in the draft. What do the odds suggest? It’s deep at interior defensive line, for instance. Those things can affect maybe what you do in free agency. You’re looking to click the last click, have it all fit and get the most out of the players you sign or draft. So it would be important to know, as we’re making free agent decisions, where the draft is depth wise at certain positions. That I do think exists.”
Sean Payton (via Broncos PR)
You do have to sort of read between the lines here with what Payton is saying, and draw your own conclusions, but the Broncos have made some previous comments about the incoming defensive line class being deep, and it does give them leverage in potential contract negotations with their current players.
And Broncos general manager George Paton stated that the team will be waiting until after the NFL Draft to go any further with contract negotiations regarding their own in-house players.
Payton's quote says nothing about John Franklin-Myers, but Franklin-Myers has been one of the most vocal so far this offseason about not feeling like he's going to be valued by the team with a new contract. The Broncos should have no problem investing some cash in their own players, but if they feel like they can't keep everyone around, the draft would allow them to draw a hard line in the sand.
Franklin-Myers deserves to be extended, but do the Broncos want to pay big-money deals to both he and Zach Allen when they could get a cost-effective starter in the NFL Draft that is also younger for the next 4-5 years?
It's all going to be about how the chips fall in the 2025 NFL Draft but knowing that the Broncos feel really good about the interior defensive line class in this year's draft makes it more likely that these players like Franklin-Myers looking for new contracts are very much on thin ice.