The Kansas City Chiefs will be watching to see what the rest of the AFC West, specifically the Denver Broncos, do over the next several weeks. The Broncos won the division in 2025 and made it all the way to the AFC title game, where they fell to the New England Patriots.
The Chiefs will look to overtake the Broncos in 2026. To help with that plan, it looks like the Broncos will be losing a major contributor on their defensive line. John Franklin-Myers is slated to hit free agency, and it sounds like he's ready to leave town.
During an appearance on NFL Network's "The Insiders", Franklin-Myers was discussing his upcoming free agency circuit. When speaking about the Broncos, he spoke in the past tense, signaling he's expected to land elsewhere.
John Franklin-Myers Looks Ready to Leave Broncos in Free Agency
Franklin-Myers joined the Broncos back in 2024 via trade and gave them a versatile piece who can move all over the defensive front. In 33 games (31 starts) with Denver, he recorded 65 total tackles, 14 TFLs, 33 QB hits, and 14.5 sacks. Furthermore, he consistently got after the quarterback, logging 59 QB hurries and 92 pressures.
And he was no slouch against the run, tallying a 65.4 run-defense grade (25th among 134 graded defensive linemen) on Pro Football Focus in 2025. Denver enters free agency with $25.2 million in cap space per OvertheCap. And they haven't hidden their interest in making a big addition to the running back room.
Jonathan Jones of CBSSports said Denver is looking to "make a splash at running back next week." Kenneth Walker and Travis Etienne are going to be the top options, which could also force the Chiefs into a bidding war over one of these tailbacks.
Yet this is a win in that they may not be willing to match the price Franklin-Myers gets on the open market. Spotrac predicts that he will get a two-year, $15.7 million deal. And the Tennessee Titans look like an obvious fit. They hired Robert Saleh as their head coach, who coached Franklin-Myers with the New York Jets from 2021 to 2023.
He found a ton of success in Saleh's scheme, recording 14.5 sacks, 48 QB hits, and 154 pressures. Tennessee recently traded for Jermaine Johnson, and he's wasting no time recruiting his former teammate to the Titans.
The Titans are one of many teams that will have interest in Franklin-Myers, and based on how he spoke about his impending free agency run, he won't be back in Denver. That's a fantastic development for a Chiefs team looking to return to form in 2026. The Broncos losing key pieces is one step towards that, and Franklin-Myers is a player to watch in the coming days.