The AFC West is a division fully built through the trenches. Los Angeles Chargers’ head coach Jim Harbaugh has always believed that to be true, as has Las Vegas Raiders’ man in charge Pete Carroll. While it’s no secret that Patrick Mahomes is the Kansas City Chiefs’ most important player, defensive tackle Chris Jones is the second-most important. More than that, Jones’ defensive line-mate George Karlaftis was named ‘Most underrated’ edge-rusher across the NFL, via ESPN’s Aaron Schatz. And then there’s the Denver Broncos.
Just like the Chiefs, Denver’s football team found a home on the list of most underrated players at each position league-wide. The difference? While Kansas City had one player make the list, the Broncos had two.
Both in the trenches that make up the AFC West division.
Garret Bolles, a second-team All-Pro in 2020, was named Schatz’ most underrated offensive tackle across the National Football League. And for good reason.
Dating back to 2019, Bolles has managed to earn a pass-blocking grade of 77.8 each season via Pro Football Focus‘ grading system. And, through each of his last three campaigns, the former first-rounder hasn’t surrendered more than three sacks.
This past season was Bolles’ most dominant since his All-Pro year in 2020. Not only was his 88.4 pass-blocking grade the fifth-highest among all tackles league-wide, but he allowed only two sacks on 671 pass-block snaps–the fifth-most snaps among all guards.
Perhaps more impressively, Bolles was responsible for only 20 pressures all season. That’s 17 less pressures allowed than any other tackle in the top-five via most pass-blocking snaps in 2024.
Joining Bolles on this list is another Broncos trench player–one on the other side of the ball. Interior defensive lineman Zach Allen.
AFC West: 2 Denver Broncos join KC Chiefs EDGE on ‘Most underrated’ list
Like Bolles, Zach Allen’s 2024 campaign was special. So special that it netted the 27-year-old a second-team All-Pro honor.
Allen’s 8.5 sacks was an impressive enough number on it’s own, but it’s the 75 pressures that really puts his season into perspective. This number ranked highest among all interior D-linemen across the NFL in 2024.
And, while Allen’s sack total on the stat-sheet was 8.5, he was able to involve himself in 12 sacks this past year. That, just like his pressure total, ranked first league-wide among all players at his position.
It doesn’t get much better than that.
For Allen, the key is bringing it all together at once. While the Boston College alum racked up 26 stops on running downs last year, the eighth-most among all defensive interior players, he came up short on 15.4% of attempted tackles. This was the second-worst missed tackle rate among all interior defenders who ranked top-15 in run-down stops in 2024, finishing behind only 38-year-old Calais Campbell.
Needless to say, that isn’t an acceptable number.
The year prior, in 2023, Allen was much better in this area. His missed tackle rate on run-downs was 8.8%, the lowest percentage among all interior defensive linemen who ranked top-10 in run-down stops.
With 60 pressures in 2023, Allen finished top-10 in pressures at his position. However, he took part in only seven separate sacks, officially recording 5.0 on the year.
All the same, Allen is certainly as good a candidate as any for most underrated interior D-lineman league-wide. And, if he can replicate his ’24 production with his ’23 tackling efficiency, the sky’s the limit.
*Top Photo: AP Photo/Jeff Dean
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