Broncos may have put defensive starter on thin ice with Sai'vion Jones pick

After the 2025 season, two of the position groups the Denver Broncos said graded out the highest on the team were the offensive and defensive lines. So far this offseason, the team hasn't done really anything to add to either of those units, until they made a surprise move in the later portion of the third round.

The Broncos traded up with the Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles to select LSU defensive lineman Sai'vion Jones, who was listed by NFL Draft outlets as an "EDGE" player but will play a base defensive end for the Broncos' defense. Jones has outstanding length, physicality, and he plays with a tremendous motor.

His current skill set sure sounds a lot like current Denver Broncos starting defensive lineman John Franklin-Myers, a player whose future status with the team is very much up in the air.

Broncos pick of Sai'vion Jones puts John Franklin-Myers on notice

There are some really interesting contract situations to monitor for this Denver Broncos team as we get through the rest of the 2025 NFL Draft. One player who has expressed a desire for a new deal on his social media is defensive lineman John Franklin-Myers, who was acquired by the Broncos in a trade almost exactly one year ago.

The Broncos traded for Franklin-Myers and basically re-signed him to a two-year deal last offseason. He's set to play out the final year of his deal in Denver in 2025, but the Broncos have a lot of mouths to feed on the defensive line, and those guys are not going to come cheap. Not only did Franklin-Myers just have the best year of his young NFL career, but so did players like Zach Allen and Malcolm Roach.

It seems like those guys will get priority after the Broncos re-signed DJ Jones, and if they aren't going to pay everybody, this selection of Sai'vion Jones could very well be a preemptive move for the future of the defensive line.

Jones is 6-foot-5, 285 pounds, and was considered the highest-graded overall player that the Denver Broncos selected on Day 2 of the 2025 NFL Draft by NFL.com. They got him with the 101st overall pick.

Landing essentially four top-100 picks in this particular draft class is huge for the Broncos. They took advantage of some deeper position groups on Day 2 and managed to get a top-10 overall player in Jahdae Barron in the 1st. This has been another outstanding class so far for George Paton, Sean Payton, and the Broncos but it could mean saying goodbye in the near future to some current starters, including quality players like John Franklin-Myers.