One year ago, Tyler Onyedim’s new coaches watched him work in practice and knew they’d missed on their initial evaluation of the transfer.
In a good way, of course.
Yes, the Texas A&M staff believed they were getting a good player when Onyedim transferred there after four years at Iowa State.
Yes, they were banking on him playing a sizable role on the Aggies’ interior defensive line.
Yes, they thought he had upside moving from the Cyclones’ 3-3-5 defense to their even front.
Still, once A&M hit the field for spring ball, the defensive coaches quickly decided those expectations had been too modest.
“We kind of were like, ‘Oh damn. We got one,’” A&M defensive coordinator Lyle Hemphill told The Post.
One year later, Onyedim is set to start working in front of new coaches again, this time in Denver after the Broncos made him the No. 66 overall pick in last month’s draft.
Hitting the jackpot in the transfer portal
When Onyedim and the rest of Denver’s rookie class begin work Friday at the team’s rookie minicamp, he will do so as a player the Broncos front office fell in love with because of the season he put together at A&M.
The Texas native was a sturdy and quality starter at Iowa State, but never put up huge counting stats in what pro and college coaches and scouts call a unique defense.
Onyedim was asked to control multiple gaps on many snaps, read, react and play from there.
“You’ve got to be a big boy in there to do some of that stuff,” Hemphill acknowledged, noting that ISU helped Onyedim grow into a high-quality player. “That, when itap all said and done, is probably the harder skill to develop.”
The Aggies, though, were after something different. When they looked for help in the transfer portal, they did something Denver head coach Sean Payton talks about frequently: They isolated subsets of tape to try to zero in on whether Onyedim fit their specific vision.
“There were times at Iowa State where you knew he was in pass-rush mode or just kind of go mode because of down and distance,” Hemphill said. “We cut those clips out and watched those clips on the side and we were like, ‘Oh, wait, this kid can be something more than this defense allows him to be.’ …
“When you watched him in that light, he became a different player.”
Even with that picture on tape at Iowa State, though, Onyedim surpassed what the Aggies thought they were getting. When he first arrived at the SEC school, Hemphill — promoted to coordinator this offseason after spending 2025 as the team’s associate head coach/defense — and others thought Onyedim would be an early down player who didn’t provide much pass-rush juice.
By the time the season went along, they were instead building what would become the nation’s best third-down defense in part around Onyedim.
“He became the third-down big guy that we kept on the field,” Hemphill said. … “ Next thing you know, we’ve got this really good third-down defense and we can put (him) to the overload side and you can create havoc. I’ll be honest, we went from being OK at that position to being dominant at that position and that allowed our third-down defense to really take off.”
After logging 12 tackles for loss and three sacks over four years and 40 games at Iowa State, Onyedim collected 8.5 TFLs and 2.5 sacks in his lone year at A&M.
The NFL noticed.
When scouts came through practice, they asked about No. 11. Most had him as a Day 3 guy, fifth- or sixth-round, before the season began. By the time Onyedim’s campaign ended, the league — and the Broncos — had a much different view.
“The 3-3 scheme at Iowa State is a little different,” Broncos assistant general manager Reed Burckhardt said after Denver selected Onyedim in the third round. “And then he gets in a different scheme that fits ours a little bit more and — there’s always going to be differences, but we felt more comfortable seeing the evidence that he was playing in a scheme similar to ours. He had a really good year. His skillset is as a three-down player.”
Physically, the Broncos like the way Onyedim plays with his hands. He’s got a frame similar to departed free agent John Franklin-Myers, including arms that are 34-plus inches and an 81-inch wingspan.
The same abilities that impressed A&M are what drew the Broncos’ attention — and eventually marathon film sessions from GM George Paton and head coach Sean Payton.
“The tape was good at Iowa State,” Paton said, “But we really liked it at A&M.”
Onyedim, Hemphill said, played anywhere the Aggies wanted him to up front.
“He can play inside the tackle, he can 3, he can play 2i, he can play shade,” Hemphill said, noting they also had a package against multi-tight end sets where Onyedim played on the edge. “He can play 5 against big personnel groups and be pretty good. I think he’s going to kill a tight end if they try to block him.”
Ready to ‘learn from the best’
That versatility should serve Onyedim well in Denver, not just because the group he’s joining is deep and talented but also because of the way defensive coordinator Vance Joseph and defensive line coach Jamar Cain like to deploy their linemen.
“When you’re talking about a 3-technique, you want a guy that can get on an edge, loop and game,” Burckhardt said. “‘V.J.’ does a ton of that stuff. He fit the total package of what we’re looking for inside with the versatility.”
The day he was drafted, Onyedim said his mindset arriving in Denver and joining a group that includes All-Pro Zach Allen, veterans like D.J. Jones and Malcolm Roach, a close friend in former ISU teammate Eyioma Uwazurike and more was to learn as much as possible.
“Don’t be an arrogant person,” he said. “Just learn. Sit back and learn from the best. Thatap my mindset, just learn from the best and cramming everything so I can be the best player I know I can be.”
Hemphill cited that ability as one of Onyedim’s foremost off-field strengths. The Broncos, Hemphill said, will be able to ask him to play whatever role at whatever time and be confident in it because Onyedim is a quick study.
“He understands what you’re trying to accomplish defensively and it just comes easy to him,” Hemphill said. “We really, truly bounced him all over the d-line and he had no issues with it. I think he’s the type of kid that enjoys that. ‘Challenge me a little bit, I’m good with it.’
“Never bitched, never complained. Really solid. He’s just a grown man.”
Texas A&M’s staff learned that and more quickly last spring.
Now, Onyedim will try to author a repeat performance at the game’s highest level.
