In an effort to boost the productivity of the run defense, the Denver Broncos went out this offseason and traded for John Franklin-Myers to revamp their defensive line. Every day in practice, he brings a different level of intensity and toughness that will be a welcome sight in the eyes of Broncos Country.

John Franklin-Myers ready to be unleashed by Denver Broncos

Pressure is a privilege in the NFL, and there are very few players around the NFL who create it as much as Franklin-Myers does. Vance Joseph’s defense last season became more aggressive after their early start to the season put them in a 1-5 hole, and there’s plenty of change besides personnel on that side of the ball.

The Denver Broncos promoted Jamar Cain to defensive line coach after allowing Marcus Dixon to pursue opportunities elsewhere. Under Cain’s direction, the Broncos’ defensive line isn’t planning on being a read-and-react unit—they’ll have more of an attacking identity in an effort to get after the quarterback and, more importantly, stop the run.

In five seasons, Franklin-Myers has 61 quarterback hits and 113 pressures to go with 19.5 sacks. When he’s not sacking the quarterback, he’s creating opportunities for other defenders to get home to the QB with his pressure looks and opportunities for turnovers by speeding up the clock of opposing signal callers, which is something Broncos head coach Sean Payton discussed after Denver’s first padded practice.

“It was good,” Payton said. “I want to watch the tape. He is a player if you study his history, his production is very consistent year in and year out what he’s done. Generally speaking, what we saw was the physicality of how he plays. He’s not a guy that’s going to take an edge all the time, but he’s going to get push and disrupt the pocket in a way that’s problematic just as a sack would be. Certainly, a player like him is going to stand out more with pads than in the offseason.”

Under this new ‘attack’ style, he’s ready for all the smoke.

“Yeah I mean I played—obviously with the [New York] Jets, it was five years of that attack front,” Franklin-Myers said. “It’s something I’m used to, but [I] got here and understood the assignment. They said attack, get off the ball and be disruptive. Shoot, sign me up.”

He and Zach Allen will both start at defensive end this season and early signs from Monday’s padded practice indicate that both of them will be crucial pieces to the success of Denver’s run defense and pass rush.

“I think you see [DE] Zach [Allen] play and you see a guy who can win with power, he can win with speed and he can win with any type of move that he throws out there,” Franklin-Myers said. “Having somebody across from you—on the opposite side of you who kind of sees the same thing, you’re able to work some of those protections and work some of those games when it’s time. It’s the hardest thing because a lot of people don’t see that. Just through the conversations, through the little bit of practice that we’ve had and just getting a chance to work some of that stuff and bounce ideas off of each other, it’s only going to make us that much better.”

The Denver Broncos defensive line will look to do more of the same to the offense as they come back for the second day of pads this morning.