ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Broncos’ defensive lineman John Franklin-Myers was a fourth-round draft pick, played in the Super Bowl as a rookie, had 11.0 combined sacks as a defensive tackle in 2021-22, received a $55 million contract extension, and is entering his seventh NFL season, fourth as a starter.
Do you know what his football team did during his four years at Greenville High School in Texas? They finished with a combined record of 0-41.
That’s right, 0-41. Franklin-Myers said his high school went 0-40 during his time in Greenville, Texas and according to MaxPreps, the Lions went 0-10 during Frankin-Myers’ freshman year of 2010, then 0-10, 0-10 and 0-11 in his senior year of 2013.
This was revealed Thursday as Franklin-Myers was asked if he took for granted his 2018 rookie year trip to the Super Bowl with the Los Angeles Rams.
“For sure, I’m not going to lie,’’ Franklin-Myers said. “It’s one of those things in college I didn’t win a lot of football games. In high school, I didn’t win any football games. So my rookie year, I’m like shoot, the NFL is easy. (Former three-time Pro Bowl linebacker) Bryan Cox was like a big mentor of mine and he was like, ‘Man, this NFL is hard. You need to understand you might go your rookie year and never go again.’ … I tell everybody I definitely took that for granted. Didn’t understand what I was really getting into.”
Hold on there a sec, JFM. Didn’t win any games in high school?
Combining research of MaxPreps and his biography at Stephen F. Austin State University, it’s true. How can a guy who grew up to be such a standout NFL defensive lineman play for a winless high school?
“I mean, shoot, that’s a good question,’’ Franklin-Myers said with a laugh. “We didn’t win (any) games. No, I don’t know what happened, honestly. It was tough. We played in Texas and so Texas is the best football in the world.”
He then went on to play for the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks from 2014-17. In his three years as a starter, the program went 4-7, 5-6 and 4-7. But before anyone could wonder if Franklin-Myers was doomed to play for losing football teams, he was drafted by the Rams who went 13-3 in his rookie season of 2018.
Franklin-Myers played seven defensive snaps in the Rams’ controversial NFC Championship Game overtime win against Sean Payton’s New Orleans Saints, then seven more snaps in a Super Bowl loss to the New England Patriots.
Among the Rams’ final cuts near the start of the following season, Franklin-Myers was claimed off waivers by the New York Jets. He flourished personally with the Jets, although that team has the NFL’s longest postseason drought of 13 seasons. He was then traded this spring to the Broncos who have the second-longest playoff skid of eight seasons.
Franklin-Myers was asked if he was hungry to return to the playoffs.
“It’s been a while, I went to the Super Bowl my rookie year and (bleep) I’m on year seven now, so the hunger is I’ve been starving. I want a buffet,” he said.
