ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — At some football positions, teams will rush their high-round draft selections. Count on them right away.
Along the interior defensive line, it’s best if they don’t.
Zach Allen, who has been utterly dominant along the Denver defensive front in the first two games of this, his sixth NFL season, was the first selection in the third round of the 2019 draft by the Arizona Cardinals. He had zero sacks as a rookie, 2.0 in his second season.
Take those defensive linemen high in the NFL Draft if you must. Just be patient because it takes a bit before they return proper value.
“That’s a really good point,’’ Allen said in an interview this week for the Broncos Huddle on 9NEWS. “I think if you look at my draft class, at least the interior D-linemen, a lot of great players in it — Jeffrey Simmons, Quinnen Williams, Christian Wilkins, Dexter Lawrence — it all probably took us to the end of our second year.“
Dre’Mont Jones, who went five picks after Allen in the 2019 draft by the Broncos, also started slow.
“Dre’Mont, yeah, a whole bunch at the end of that second year, third year, to kind of figure it out,’’ Allen said. “It’s just such a different game. And for me I played outside in college so it was learning a whole new position. I had to deal with the different size, speed, everything.
“I’m still young, still learning a lot, I’m only 27. I’m just taking it day-by-day to try to be a sponge and ask as many questions and just kind of watch film from around the league to see what’s working for guys and what’s not.”
Allen already has a stunning 13 quarterback pressures through two games, tying him with the Chiefs’ Chris Jones for the most among NFL interior defensive linemen. He also has five quarterback hits, a sack and a safety to his credit. The reason for Allen’s success?
“He’s a good player first of all,’’ said Broncos defensive coordinator Vance Joseph. “He works at it. He’s smart. Obviously when you’re game-planning, guys have time to watch film. Good veterans figure out ways to make plays within a scheme. He does that very well.
“We have, in my opinion, better rushing sides next to him. So the turn’s not always going to Zach Allen. Last year, everyone turned to Zach. Now we have guys inside who can rush opposite Zach, so it’s pretty fair. He’s getting some one-on-ones, and he’s winning.”
Allen has been the best player so far on a Denver defense that ranks No. 9 in total defense and 12th in points allowed. The Denver D played well for three of four quarters in the season opener at Seattle and for all but one drive, maybe two last week in a 13-6 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
“It’s nice to see us playing good defense,’’ Allen said. “There were times last year when we were living and dying by the turnover. Now it’s, you can play to win each down and as a defense I think we’re trying to figure out how to play a full 60. It’s like we play 50 or 55 minutes really good defense and then we have a little letdown here and there. But for us, we have to keep working to hold it and play our full 60 and then control what you can control.”
Despite the fine play of the Denver D, the Broncos are 0-2 because their offense has been abysmal. No finger-pointing is going on, though, Allen said.
“You look around the league, it’s everybody,’’ Allen said. “Touchdowns are down. Red zone defense (is up). It’s the NFL. There’s good players, they get paid to. There was a stretch last year where the offense was carrying us, that’s just football. Everything comes through its ebbs and flows and like we talked about, OTAs and camp, you could see it (with the offense). When it clicks, it clicks. We have full faith. We’re not … like I said, we have 15 more to go.”
