A veteran has been dealt on Day 3 of the NFL Draft, though the return will not involve a pick in this draft.
The Broncos are acquiring defensive lineman John Franklin-Myers from the Jets, ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter reports.
The Jets, who have chosen defensive ends in the past two first rounds and traded for Haason Reddick in March, are picking up a 2026 sixth-round pick from the Broncos. This marks a second Broncos-Jets swap this week, with Franklin-Myers following Zach Wilson to Denver.
With Reddick in the fold, ESPN.com’s Jeremy Fowler adds the Jets gave Franklin-Myers permission to seek a trade. He spent five seasons with the Jets, coming over as a waiver claim in 2019.
While the Jets let Bryce Huff walk in free agency, they replaced him with Reddick. The team will now move its third-highest cap charge ($16.4M) off the roster.
Franklin-Myers, who emerged from a player the Rams cut after one season into a starter who earned a Jets extension, will add a versatile presence to the Broncos’ front seven.
The veteran has shown the ability to play inside and outside. That will be an interesting skillset in Vance Joseph‘s 3-4 defense. While the Jets used first-rounders on edge rushers in 2022 (Jermaine Johnson) and 2023 (Will McDonald), Franklin-Myers started all 34 games over the past two seasons.
The six-year veteran’s four-year, $55M contract runs through 2025, and he is carrying some lofty base salaries — hence the 2026 sixth-round return — to his new team.
Franklin-Myers, 27, is attached to bases of $13.3M (2024) and $14.4M (2025). Of those totals, only $3.2M of his 2024 base is guaranteed. This will give the Broncos some flexibility, and the signing bonus proration and void years will stick the Jets with some dead money. Gang Green will be tagged with $9M-plus in dead cap but pick up more than $7M in savings from the JFM deal.
Pro Football Focus rated Franklin-Myers as a top-20 edge defender in 2021 and 2022; the Jets got ahead of this by extending him before the 2021 season. The former Rams fourth-rounder totaled 17.5 sacks in four Jets seasons, including five- and six-sack slates in 2021 and 2022. Franklin-Myers totaled a career-high 20 QB hits in 2022.
This marks the second Broncos-Jets trade involving an edge rusher in 18 months, with the sides exchanging Jacob Martin at the 2022 deadline.
Franklin-Myers carries a higher pedigree by comparison and will join a Broncos team now deep on the edge.
Denver’s Randy Gregory and Frank Clark moves did not work out, but the team still rosters its top three edges from last season — Baron Browning, Jonathon Cooper and Nik Bonitto — and chose Jonah Elliss in the second round Friday night.
Franklin-Myers’ ability to work up front could be of use, with the Broncos needing more help along their D-line, where Zach Allen and D.J. Jones reside as the team’s top cogs.
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