Even though it feels like the Denver Broncos are trying, you can't keep everybody in today's NFL. Especially when your team is playing well, players increase their value not only to your organization but also around the rest of the league.
Losing players and coaches is a byproduct of success in the NFL and sports in general. The Denver Broncos are (sadly) no exception to that, even though they have the resources to keep most of their core intact.
After keeping 85 percent of the 2024 roster for 2025, we know that continuity will be key for this Denver Broncos team yet again in the 2026 offseason, but who might be in their final stretch with the team? One player everyone has their eyes on in Broncos Country right now is defensive lineman John Franklin-Myers.
John Franklin-Myers could be in final stretch with Broncos as 2026 NFL Free Agency looms
Based on some players with comparable age and production at this point in their careers, John Franklin-Myers should be set up for a great contract in 2026 free agency. Jonathan Allen, at the age of 30, signed a 3-year deal worth $51 million in total money with the Vikings last offseason.
Allen's production is, at worst, comparable to Franklin-Myers, who has been a model of durability throughout the course of his NFL career. You have to think that if he gets to the open market, Franklin-Myers could command a deal close to that amount, at least in terms of the average annual value.
"JFM" has already taken a pay reduction to come to Denver. He signed a renegotiated two-year contract as part of the trade to come over from the New York Jets, so the Broncos are already getting an outrageous bargain at $7.5 million per season with him. It would require another haircut on his presumptive value to get him to stay in Denver.
The Broncos have committed a ton of resources to both sides of the line, as you would expect. They have given new contracts to all of Nik Bonitto, Jonathon Cooper, Zach Allen, DJ Jones, and Malcolm Roach already. Would they be willing to give out another big-money deal to keep Franklin-Myers around?
Even with a lot of projected cap space, folks in Broncos Country are already worried that Franklin-Myers will be the one that gets left out, but let me breathe some life into the idea that he could come back, if only for a moment.
Remember last year at this time, most people felt like it was a foregone conclusion that DJ Jones would be leaving in 2025 free agency. And then the Broncos made him an offer he couldn't refuse, and now he's locked into the lineup for the next handful of years. People thought the Broncos wouldn't be able to extend Cooper and Bonitto and Allen and Roach, but they did.
I have a sneaking suspicion that, when the time is right, Franklin-Myers will hear from the Broncos and get some kind of offer. And we'll see how much he wants to stay in Denver, because I think he would get more money on the open market. And that shouldn't come as a surprise. The Broncos seem to be getting team-friendly deals with every player they re-sign, from Pat Surtain to Wil Lutz.
This is the benefit of having a quarterback on a rookie contract, not to mention flexibility with many of those long-term deals that have already been signed to create additional cap space. It's not impossible to think that Franklin-Myers could get another 3-year deal from the Broncos, entering the prime of his career.
But the reality exists that this next stretch of games in the regular and postseason could be the final stretch of JFM's tremendous tenure with the Broncos.