ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — When the Denver Broncos signed free agent defensive tackle Zach Allen in April 2023, they believed he could be a high-motor, efficient lineman who could be an upgrade for newly-hired head coach Sean Payton’s roster makeover.
He has turned out to be so much more.
Two seasons later, the second-team All-Pro has become a foundational piece of the Broncos’ roster, a sentiment that was reinforced by Allen’s recent four-year, $102 million extension that runs through the 2029 season.
“Sometimes you sign someone and it’s like — ‘Ahhh,'” Payton said. “I don’t want to use the parallel, but my parents loved garage sale-ing. That was their deal … I think I had 10 couches growing up. They’d come home with a new couch, and you’d remove the old one, and you were so excited it was a sectional until you sat in the left corner and it wiggled and then you realized why it was a free agent.
“You just have to really do your homework [on players] and spend a lot of time on it. Fortunately, we did, and I would say relative to [Allen], more than, ‘This is what we saw, we’re excited to get,’ there was this much more. That’s great when that happens.”
As the Broncos move toward the 2025 season with high hopes for an elite defense, Payton has openly expounded on the team’s worthiness as a Super Bowl contender. And Allen was deemed a nine-digit contract part of it — a player who has continued to ascend.
“He had good numbers … [he has] flexibility across the board, productivity, consistency, stamina, all the things that you’re looking for,” Payton said.
The late Floyd Reese, the long-time general manager of the Houston Oilers and Tennessee Titans, often said one of the most difficult parts for a team executive was finding players who significantly improved their play after they signed their first free-agent deal.
“You can find a lot of guys who play at the same high, high level that made you want to sign them,” he said. “But to find those guys who played at that high, high level and they take it up even a little more … not the same, but a little more … that’s just rare.”
Allen has been one of those guys for Denver. His 61 tackles, 40 quarterback hits, 8.5 sacks and 15 tackles for losses in 2024 were each career-highs and helped pace a defense that led the NFL with 63 sacks.
He did this while playing 89% of the Broncos’ defensive snaps, an eyebrow-raising figure in a league where defensive linemen frequently rotate. That gives Allen a unique combination of endurance, consistency and production — and helps make the Denver pass rush go.
“That’s kind of why I probably am here,” Allen said. “I have an obsession about this. You can talk to anybody in this building … I love this. This is my life. I take a lot of pride in this. … Every single day since the season ended, there was finding ways to get better, every year I am getting better. Right now, [I’m] way ahead of schedule of where I was last year, so that’s really encouraging.”
Allen credited his two seasons with the Arizona Cardinals alongside three-time Defensive Player of the Year J.J. Watt as a key boost to his training and approach to offseason work. It also helped that Broncos defensive coordinator Vance Joseph, Allen’s defensive coordinator with the Cardinals, was hired by Payton in the same offseason Allen signed with Denver.
So while some free agents talk of “seamless” transitions to their new teams, Allen’s jump was truly as seamless as it can be in the NFL.
“[Joseph] was a major reason why I came here,” Allen said. “Obviously, the money’s the money, and everything like that, but to be able to share it with the people that have helped get you here is the coolest thing because it is a status symbol or whatever, it’s kind of where you’re standing in the league is a little bit. It’s a respect thing.
“To be able to have a guy like Vance believe in me year after year and help me day after day, he’s been incredible.”
Extending Allen hasn’t been Denver’s only move to make its top-tier defense better. The Broncos added two former 49ers standouts (linebacker Dre Greenlaw and safety Talanoa Hufanga) in free agency and spent their first-round draft pick on cornerback Jahdae Barron.
Allen believes the Broncos are poised to compete with the AFC’s heavyweights. Coupled with the new 205,000 square foot football palace getting closer to completion next to the Broncos’ practice fields, Allen said the lure to stay and be a part of what the Broncos can become was far stronger than what the open market might have offered next March.
“I just love what we’re building here, and I just can’t state that enough, it’s all about the culture,” Allen said. “This organization really has set me up for success. … I have a lot of high goals for myself and this team, and I believe we can accomplish all of those here.”
