Broncos defensive line coach Jamar Cain had rookie Sai’vion Jones for one season in 2022 at Louisiana State, and the message he preaches now in Denver is the same he did back in Baton Rouge: Go take somebody’s job.
“I’ve done that with him,” Cain told The Post in September.
Cain is not the only one.
John Franklin-Myers, 29, is the lone member of the Broncos’ starting defensive line who hasn’t been rewarded with a long-term deal. He has been the most understated piece of Denver’s defensive line for two years, compiling 4.5 sacks in 11 games. But 11 weeks into 2025, he is still the odd man out. A source with knowledge of the situation told The Denver Post that the Broncos have yet to engage in any extension talks with Franklin-Myers, and he’s still looking ahead to free agency in 2026.
A new deal has seemed unlikely ever since Denver traded up in the third round in April’s draft to get Jones, a promising but raw defensive end. Franklin-Myers could shun Jones, the rookie who’s poised to compete for his job in 2026 if Franklin-Myers hits the open market. The veteran has a future to focus on — a livelihood to earn.
Instead, Franklin-Myers has pushed Jones behind the scenes since fall camp: Go take my job.
“It just shows his character,” Jones told The Post. “To me, it’s clear what he values. He doesn’t value football more than his teammates. And he would rather help his teammates … than the football, and money, and stuff like that.
“And with him on his last year, and me being drafted third-round and taking his spot — even with him knowing all that, he don’t care about none of that. He just want to make me get better.”
In October, Franklin-Myers, standing at his locker, smiled when told of Jones’ admission. He is an eight-year NFL vet and carries more respect than most who make it in the business. Franklin-Myers did not win a single game of high school football, was a zero-star recruit, and turned himself into a fourth-round pick out of FCS program Stephen F. Austin.
Franklin-Meyers was cut by the Rams the year after playing in a Super Bowl, then jettisoned by the Jets, and now faces another likely cycle of a franchise unwilling or unable to keep him.
There is no bitterness toward Jones or the Broncos. There is only the game. So Franklin-Myers gave his sermon.
“You see it all the time where you got these vets that — it’s probably more in the old days — but vets that don’t exactly tell rookies or anybody else, man, what you’re thinking, how did you get to the position where you are, the mentality of everything,” Franklin-Myers said. “And I don’t know, man. I’m different. I’m like, they draft a person, and if you’re better than me or however the situation goes — you gon’ play. If they want you to play, you gon’ play.
“My job as a vet is to sit here and say, ‘Man, I know my vets did this for me, I have the chance to pay this forward. This guy has done nothing wrong. It’s not player versus player. It’s not player versus coach. It’s player with player, player with coach,’ ” Franklin-Myers continued. “And if that’s gon’ be my teammate, I’m doing him, his family and the rest of my team a disservice — I’m doing myself a disservice — by not putting him and everybody else in our room in the best position possible.”
Jones has been inactive in all but one game this season, developing behind one of the best defensive lines in football. He spent the majority of his time in college playing outside as a defensive end, and has shifted to playing more on the interior in Denver, which has come with its bumps.
Franklin-Myers, at 6-foot-4 and 288 pounds, is nearly identical in body type to Jones (6-5, 289). And the veteran has been “teaching me a lot,” Jones said.
“I try to remember everything he tells me,” Jones continued.
Specifically: Reading the game. Most offensive lines do a type of “slide,” as Jones described it, in pass protection to block rushers. Franklin-Myers has told Jones to watch how linemen point to identify the defense’s mike linebacker, and to turn back and identify the Mike himself. That can tell him what direction the offensive front is sliding.
As Jones evolves in the shadows, Franklin-Myers and the group develop on the field. Cain told Franklin-Myers during camp that his confidence in the run game had grown by leaps and bounds from his first season in Denver, after the Jets traded him to the Broncos in April 2024. Cain spent much of his time in practice in 2024 specifically watching Franklin-Myers’ positioning in the run game. He can now train his eyes on the group as a whole.
That development has been a key factor in defensive coordinator Vance Joseph calling heavy doses of nickel and dime formations against the Raiders and Chiefs in recent weeks, daring teams to beat Denver’s defensive line on the ground.
“John does the dirty work that nobody ever sees,” Cain said in September. “And to see him come back this year and in fall camp, and embrace playing the run better than what he played it last year — and no ego, and want to be coached, and want to be coached hard and want to be told what you’re not doing right and having that open dialogue with him — it’s been amazing.”
Franklin-Myers has pushed backup defensive lineman Eyioma Uwazurike. And rookie Jordan Miller. And Jones. Because there’s no individual gain, in Franklin-Myers’ mind, to limiting competition.
“Ultimately, I know when I was in his position — as much as I’m your friend, you better believe, like, I got a family to feed,” Franklin-Myers said of Jones.
“I want to be pushed, because I want to be the best,” Franklin-Myers continued. “If they’re not pushing me to be better, then we’re all at a disservice, at a disadvantage. So, man, I think you’re only as good as the youngest guy in the group. That’s the guy that probably has the most to learn, and it’s our job to teach him.”
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