The Denver Broncos seemingly got a steal when they agreed to trade a 2026 sixth-round to the New York Jets in exchange for defensive lineman John Franklin-Myers during the 2024 NFL draft.
The Jets were in a salary cap pinch that made Franklin-Myers (27) expendable, allowing the Broncos to make a bargain trade. Denver coach Sean Payton said fans and media will begin to see the kind of impact the defensive end can make when the pads come on later this summer.
“Each year, consistently you saw the numbers, the numbers, the numbers,” Payton said on June 4. “It was kind of like you couldn’t even imagine how close they were. Now it came through power rush, bull rush or took an edge. It’s harder for him now to show you those things when we’re not in pads. So now, it’s alignment, it’s the scheme, where am I at and how am I fitting? I think we’ll see a lot more of that when we’re in pads. You can’t bull rush a guy out here; it’s kind of hard to do.
“He’s a powerful player. I would say when you grade or look at his pressure statistics over the last four years or five years, it’s pretty interesting. They’re very consistent across the board. So you see a very consistent player, but again during these drills you’re not able to necessarily see that.”
Over the last three years in New York, Franklin-Myers totaled 14, 20 and 14 quarterback hits while adding six, five and three sacks. He was consistent for the Jets and Payton expects the same kind of production in Denver. Getting that level of player for a late-round pick in the future was a great move.
