The Denver Broncos have a strong interior defensive line, headlined by their two starting 3-4 defensive ends: Zach Allen and John Franklin-Myers. Allen has been a top-10 interior defensive lineman over the last two seasons, and Franklin-Myers is coming off the best year of his career.
Despite that, both of them get slighted by Pro Football Focus' Trevor Sikkema's top 32 interior defensive linemen.
When reviewing the list, the first offense didn't even have the correct team for John Franklin-Myers. He came in 18th in the rankings but is still listed as part of the New York Jets, not the Broncos, despite coming off a career year in Denver.
“Over the past three seasons, Franklin-Myers’ 0.65 PFF WAR ranks 13th among interior defenders. His 78.3 PFF overall grade in 2024 also placed 13th at the position, and he generated a career-high 82.9 PFF pass-rush grade," Sikkema wrote.
Franklin-Myers heavily benefited from having Allen opposite him. There are a lot of talented interior defensive linemen in the NFL, so 18th for Franklin-Myers is fair. One of those players is his teammate Zach Allen, right?
Nope. Get this: out of 69 interior defensive linemen with at least 500 snaps, Allen ranked second in total pressures, first in sacks, ninth in tackles, and third in total stops. Sikkema ranked Allen No. 20.
“Allen was an iron man last season, playing 1,031 snaps in just 17 games. The Eagles' Jalen Carter was the only defensive tackle who logged more, but he had three extra games to do so. Allen's 64.9 PFF overall grade was low, but his 73.6 PFF pass-rush grade and 81 quarterback pressures speak for themselves," Sikkema wrote. "He was also quite versatile, logging 287 snaps at defensive tackle, 262 at right defensive end and 451 at left defensive end (ends in Denver’s front are more interior players due to the 3-4 alignment).”
What happens next at Broncos HQ? Don't miss out on any news and analysis! Take a second, sign up for our free newsletter, and get breaking Broncos news delivered to your inbox daily!
Despite being in the top 10 in all those categories and No. 1 in sacks, according to PFF's own metrics. What hurt Allen? It's hard to say, but PFF has always been sour on Allen’s run defense and graded him poorly there, despite analytics from both ESPN and NFL Pro revealing him to be a significantly better run defender than PFF gives him credit for.
So, why is there such a large disconnect with PFF compared to other sites when it comes to Allen’s run defense? That's a question that the analytics giant needs to answer, as there could be many reasons for it, but we aren’t going to delve into that now.
Allen is versatile and played a lot from all over the line, and his stats as a pass rusher “speak for themselves,” but he comes in at 20th. His overall grade is dragged down significantly because of PFF's bizarre run defense grade given to him.
In PFF's run defense grade, Allen ranked 30th out of 46 players who played at least 250 run defense snaps. Yet, his 27 stops against the run ranked seventh-most, with his run-stop percentage being the 12th-highest.
Allen's average depth of tackle was 1.3 yards, tied for the second-lowest average. So, where did this poor grade come from?
Allen was penalized heavily for missed tackles, as his eight missed tackles tied for the third most, and his missed tackle percentage ranked 12th. However, players with similar numbers were significantly better graded as run defenders than Allen, which raises even more questions about PFF's grading system.
The PFF position rankings have been hit or miss when it comes to properly representing the Broncos, but the rankings for interior defensive linemen are a complete farce. Franklin-Myers is a good player, but in no way, shape, or form should he be ahead of Allen, who has proven himself to be one of the best players at the position in the NFL. On top of that, not even having the right team for Franklin-Myers?
Recommended Articles
In other rankings where the Broncos were disrespected, there was at least a devil's advocate argument to be made for the players checking in as low as they did, or not including them on the list at all, as in the case of right tackle Mike McGlinchey. When it comes to Allen, though, there is no argument for PFF ranking him, a second-team All-Pro, as the 20th-best defensive lineman in the league.
