Who was the most effective Bronco at rushing the passer in 2024? The answer might surprise you.
This is a follow-up to horse tracks from today.
Using SISdatahub.com I pulled the data for every defender with 150 or more pass rushes in 2024. There were 208 total and seven Broncos.
While Zach Allen led the team in pressures and Nik Bonitto led the team in sacks, the player with the highest pressure rate was John Franklin-Myers (min 150 pass rush snaps). He got pressure on 13.3% of his pass rush snaps. Dondrea Tillman was the best if you set the cut-off at 140 pass rush snaps. He got pressure on 14.9%. Justin Strnad and Drew Sanders had higher pressure rates, but Justin had 69 pass rush snaps and Drew had two. Jordan Jackson only had 139 pass rush snaps and got pressure on 7 of them (5.0%). Eyioma Uwazurike got pressure on 3 of his 22.
For the entire league, Tillman would have been 14th in pressure rate. JFM was 22nd.
Bronco players highlighted in orange. If we zoom in on this to view the top 30, there is a really interesting free agent who was 30th in the league last season, Von Miller.
Maybe if Von would take a vet minimum deal, he would be a good rotational pass rusher for the Broncos in 2025. He was still decently effective at rushing the passer in 2024. Don’t got caught up in the sack numbers. Pressures are a much better indicator of a player’s ability to rush the passer than sacks. I also would love for Jonah Elliss to get a chance to learn from Von.
I think it will really come down to Von’s willingness to take a small contract to come back to the Broncos to end his career. His results from last might get him a decently big deal from a team that is desperate for a pass rush – or a team that loses one of their best to injury early in the season or in training camp.