Broncos Country hasn’t had to worry about losing JFM

Every offseason produces a loss that lingers in the background while the bigger headlines dominate the conversation. For the Denver Broncos, that loss was John Franklin-Myers.

The defensive end recorded 7.5 sacks and 25 tackles in his second year with the franchise, helping anchor a defensive front that produced 68 total sacks, the fifth-highest single-season total in NFL history. Then, he signed with the Tennessee Titans. And for a while, Josh Dover couldn’t stop thinking about it.

On a recent edition of “Dover and Cecil” on 104.3 The Fan, Dover finally put the concern to rest, and admitted it probably should have been buried a long time ago.

“Why would I be worried about John Franklin-Myers not being in the Mile High City anymore?” Dover said.

It’s a fair question to ask now, even if it wasn’t always the obvious one. The Broncos offseason was so loaded with positive developments, Jaylen Waddle’s arrival, Davis Webb’s promotion to offensive coordinator, Bo Nix’s clean bill of health, that the JFM departure never received the kind of sustained attention a loss of that caliber would normally generate. It slipped through the cracks of a news cycle that had too many good stories to tell.

But Dover acknowledged that he personally couldn’t let it go as easily as the rest of Broncos Country did.

“I spent too much time this offseason talking about and thinking about JFM not being a Bronco. And it doesn’t even matter dude,” Dover said.

The reason it doesn’t matter is the reason Cecil Lammey has been pointing to all summer, the collection of players waiting behind Franklin-Myers who have used training camp and the preseason to prove the depth chart isn’t going to miss a beat.

Lammey explained why the replacement plan hasn’t generated the same kind of attention a traditional one-for-one swap would have.

“I think it’s because it’s not a one-for-one. You know what I mean? Because if you said, ‘Enyi Uwazurike is the guy that’s gonna replace JFM,’ they’d be like, ‘Oh, that’s the one guy.’ Well, it’s a collection. It’s Sai’vion Jones, it’s Tyler Onyedim, who you watched in this last game, who looked really good. And it’s Uwazurike, who’s been outstanding,” Lammey said.

That captures why the loss has been so easy to absorb. The Broncos aren’t asking one player to fill Franklin-Myers’ shoes. They are distributing those reps across multiple players who have each shown they can produce at the NFL level. Jones brings pass-rush upside. Onyedim flashed in the most recent preseason game. Uwazurike has been one of the standout performers of training camp. Together, they represent a rotation that may not replicate JFM’s individual production but can collectively match, or exceed, his overall impact.

Lammey acknowledged Dover’s summer-long fixation with a knowing nod.

“So, I think it’s that collection of players. But yeah, as we go through our summer opinions, I remember you bringing up JFM quite a bit,” Lammey said.

Dover closed the book on the concern once and for all.

“And I don’t need to worry, I’m not worried anymore,” he said.

That’s the sound of a man who has finally watched enough film, seen enough preseason reps, and heard enough from the coaching staff to let go of the one offseason loss that kept nagging at him. The Broncos defense was historically dominant last season, and the front office built the kind of depth that allows a team to lose a productive player without losing its identity. Franklin-Myers will be missed as a person and a leader. But the production he provided is already being replaced, not by one name, but by a collection of them.

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