Alex Singleton’s season-ending knee injury had a trickle-down effect on several other Broncos inside linebackers Sunday against the New York Jets.
Cody Barton played every snap and relayed defensive calls from Vance Joseph, neither of which he’d done previously.
Justin Strnad started, played 57 snaps defensively — his first non-special teams action since 2021 — and logged his first career sack.
“I think it would be more Alex to Justin because Cody kind of stayed in the same position he’s been playing,” head coach Sean Payton said Monday of the role changes. “I mean Cody had the green dot, but other than that — those guys stepped up. It’s always difficult when you lose someone who’s been as productive and certainly one of the team leaders.
“I was proud of the way those young guys played.”
Another, Levelle Bailey, was elevated from the practice squad and made his NFL debut with 10 special teams snaps.
Who got more bang for their buck, though, than Kristian Welch?
The relative newcomer, signed after the preseason when he didn’t make Green Bay’s initial roster, did not play a defensive snap against Tampa Bay and then got just three against the Jets.
But boy, did he make the most of them.
Welch’s role actually didn’t even change all that much. He played 27 snaps in some mixed downs settings against Seattle and Pittsburgh, teams that are heavier personnel-wise than the Bucs and more apt to run the ball. Another part of his regular workload: Goal line defense.
And he played a central role in Denver coming up with one of its biggest stops of the afternoon against New York.
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The Jets found themselves first-and-goal at the Denver 1-yard line late in the first quarter after a pass interference penalty on Riley Moss.
Defensive linemen John Franklin-Myers and Malcolm Roach stood firm at the point of attack on a first-down Breece Hall run, but Hall started to fall back toward the middle of the field and the goal line.
Welch was there to stuff him and make sure he dropped before getting across with help from Barton, who cleaned up at the end of the play.
On second down the Jets ran right at Welch out of the I-formation, with Rodgers again handing the ball to Hall.
Rookie outside linebacker Jonah Elliss violently knocked tight end Tyler Conklin back to disrupt the play from the start. Welch folded outside of Elliss and inside of safety P.J. Locke and thumped Hall, stopping him in his tracks for a short loss.
Then on third down, Rodgers rolled to the right on play action and looked for an opening. Welch started downhill but retreated and, along with Barton, covered just enough ground to keep Rodgers from throwing to Conklin in the back corner of the end zone. Franklin-Myers swam over a block attempt and ran past running back Braelon Allen, quickly chasing Rodgers into a throw-away.
That’s three snaps on the afternoon for Welch: Assisted tackle, tackle, coverage. Then a false start on fourth-and-goal from the 1 for the Jets forced coach Robert Saleh to put his field goal unit on the field.
Those points, of course, ended up being critical in a game that was within one score for all 60 minutes.
One small thing I liked: When the Broncos really needed a third-down conversion in the third quarter, Payton didn’t mess around. He went right to rookie QB Bo Nix’s comfort zone. He dialed up a dagger concept and Nix made his best throw of the day to Courtland Sutton for 29 yards on third-and-11. The Broncos were 0 of 8 on third down to that point but converted three times on their 87-yard touchdown drive.
It was also good that Payton acknowledged Monday the need to be able to branch out with Nix going forward.
“Like anything else, if you repeat something and you get more and more comfortable with it, then it becomes a play you like and then it becomes one of your favorites,” Payton said. “You get to it in a critical situation. That was a big drive, obviously. That was an important drive for us to kind of take it from our end and convert there and go on to score a touchdown.
“I think that confidence level will continue to grow and it’s important that it grows with other route combinations.”
One small thing I didn’t like: Seventh-round rookie WR Devaughn Vele did everything right during camp, made plays day after day, had eight catches in Week 1 (albeit for 39 yards) and then hurt his ribs. He was ruled out Week 2 because of the injury but the Broncos have called him a healthy scratch the past two weeks. Why?
Perhaps his role crosses over too much with Lil’Jordan Humphrey, who’s had a nice start to the season. But given the way Denver’s offense is likely to look for at least the next several weeks, it’s hard to argue that Troy Franklin is the better option right now.
Franklin’s got real speed, but also four catches (10 targets) for 9 yards so far. Nix hasn’t shown he can get the ball over the top to Franklin — he underthrew one deep attempt Sunday — and Vele so far has been a better option blocking and operating in the shallow parts of the field.
One trend to watch: This is not hyperbole: Zach Allen’s playing like one of the best defensive linemen in football through four weeks. He dominated Jets guard John Simpson and whoever else lined up across from him on Sunday.
Allen through four games has already racked up 21 quarterback pressures, according to the NFL’s Next Gen Stats. His 15% pressure rate is comfortably top 20 among all players in the NFL and top 10 among defensive linemen. And on top of it he played every snap against the Jets to tick up to 95% play time for the season. That rate of production at that workload is not normal for his position.
It matters, too, even when the play doesn’t end in a sack. Allen might have saved a touchdown early in the fourth quarter when he looped around Roach and flashed in Rodgers’ face on second-and-11 from the Denver 24. Rodgers had already seen plenty of No. 99 on the day and when Allen flashed, Rodgers immediately flipped the ball out incomplete to the flat. That happened just as Garrett Wilson was breaking wide open up the seam. Assuming Rodgers sees it, it’s a likely touchdown and 13-7 Jets lead. Instead, New York settled for a field goal after — you guessed it — Allen chased down Rodgers and ran him out of bounds on third down.
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