So far through six months with the Broncos, defensive lineman Zach Allen has been described by his coaches and teammates largely in comparison to others.
On Denver’s roster, he is essentially a replacement for Dre’Mont Jones. They were the two best defensive linemen to hit the free agent market this spring. They are similarly sized and signed similarly lucrative three-year deals.
Jones left the Broncos for Seattle. Allen left Arizona for the Front Range.
Back in March, new Broncos coach Sean Payton said getting hired in February and being part of the decision on whether to re-sign Jones was a bit like being “a week before prom and you’re trying to figure out if Sally Sue is going to go with you and if not, you have to have (a plan).”
Instead, the Broncos opted for a newcomer who is actually more familiar to the new coaching staff, owing to his four years in the desert with now Broncos defensive coordinator Vance Joseph.
“Zach’s the right kind of dude as far as a person and as a teammate,” Joseph said recently. “He’s a great teammate, he’s on every single day. He’s super smart. He was a good signing for this football team.
“Obviously he was around Watt for the last two or three years and thatap paid off for him. He’s a good player.”
“Watt,” of course, is recently retired star defensive end J.J. Watt, who lined up next to Allen the past two seasons in Arizona after forging a Hall of Fame career over 10 years in Houston.
Allen is wearing Watt’s old number (99) in Denver. When he reaches up and swats a ball down at the line of scrimmage, as he did several times in training camp, you can almost see Watt, owner of 70 passes knocked down in his career, smiling somewhere from a cabin or European football pitch.
Allen is not Watt, of course. Watt had two 20.5-sack seasons in his first four years in the NFL. But he says he learned a lot during their time as teammates.
“It helped out a lot,” Allen said this spring. “I speak very highly about him and I was able to learn a lot from him, obviously. I’m fortunate for that. Last year was a really great opportunity and we had a really great on-field and off-field chemistry.
Watt was still in Allen’s ear this summer, just not about football.
“He’s helping me pick out furniture for my new house,” Allen said in May.
And as he’s settled in with the Broncos defense and helped teammates learn the ins and outs and subtle differences of Joseph’s defense – and, in turn, re-learned changes Joseph made to help Denver defenders pick the system up more quickly – his head coach sees flashes of another pass-rusher, too.
“He’s smart, he’s in the right gap, he’s consistent,” Payton said. “We had a player — I’m not comparing him to this player (because) they play different positions — but we had a player in New Orleans, Trey Hendrickson, who just was a handful. With each snap, energy and effort. Zach is that way down in and down out.
“He’s really, really consistent. It takes a lot of energy, especially when you’re playing inside, to play that way. He’s got really good stamina. I’ve been pleased with him.”
He’s also showed some versatility.
Since Allen arrived for OTAs in May, the Broncos have not been at full strength up front. Defensive tackle Mike Purcell’s been rehabilitating from a knee injury thatap kept him out the entire offseason and on the non-football injury list through training camp. D.J. Jones suffered a concussion in the opening preseason game. Eyioma Uwazurike was suspended the entire season for gambling on NFL games at the outset of training camp.
Assuming no setbacks, Jones and Purcell should both be part of the Broncos’ rotation come Week 1, meaning Allen can use a little bit more of this natural pass-rush ability, similar to the way that pair freed up Dre’Mont Jones in 2022.
“To me, Mike is the core,” D.J. Jones said this summer. “Mike is a dominant nose (tackle), immovable. He’ll allow myself to play the three (technique), Zach to play the four and other guys to roll in.
“I can’t wait to get him back.”
Allen has been working to build chemistry with teammates and working to build new pass-rush moves with coaches – including a brief guest appearance from former All-Pro Jared Allen, who spent time with No. 99 after a practice talking about pass-rushing technique.
“We’ve been doing really good,” Zach Allen said. “Itap training camp so itap not going to be 100%, but thatap why we practice. These (preseason) games, too, we’re still going to be working out some kinks.
“All that matters is getting set for Week 1.”
Jones vs. Allen
The Broncos chose defensive lineman Zach Allen over retaining Dre’Mont Jones in free agency this offseason. Here’s a look at how they stacked up against each other over their first four seasons in the NFL:
Sacks |
||
| Dre’Mont Jones | Zach Allen | |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 4 | 0 |
| 2020 | 7 | 2 |
| 2021 | 5 | 4 |
| 2022 | 7 | 6 |
Hurries |
||
| Dre’Mont Jones | Zach Allen | |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 17 | 2 |
| 2020 | 19 | 12 |
| 2021 | 28 | 12 |
| 2022 | 33 | 14 |
Hits |
||
| Dre’Mont Jones | Zach Allen | |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 2 | 3 |
| 2020 | 4 | 4 |
| 2021 | 7 | 10 |
| 2022 | 5 | 15 |
Pressures |
||
| Dre’Mont Jones | Zach Allen | |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 23 | 5 |
| 2020 | 30 | 18 |
| 2021 | 40 | 26 |
| 2022 | 45 | 35 |
Games played |
||
| Dre’Mont Jones | Zach Allen | |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 14 | 4 |
| 2020 | 13 | 13 |
| 2021 | 16 | 15 |
| 2022 | 13 | 13 |
Pressure % |
||
| Dre’Mont Jones | Zach Allen | |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 10.50% | 6.25% |
| 2020 | 8.33% | 6.21% |
| 2021 | 9.48% | 6.57% |
| 2022 | 10.04% | 8.20% |
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