The Denver Broncos came within four sacks of NFL history last season. All-Pro defensive tackle Zach Allen says that near-miss is exactly why he expects Denver to actually get there in 2026.
“In this league you’ve kind of always got to keep on finding ways to get better and adjusting and all that,” Allen said, via the Denver Post. “It also helps when you’ve got V.J. dialing stuff up that helps us get one-on-ones. We’ve got a lot of good guys and that’s going to create a lot of opportunities for people. We came close to the sack record last year and we fully expect to break it this year.”
V.J. is defensive coordinator Vance Joseph, and the record Allen is talking about belongs to the 1984 Chicago Bears. That defense racked up 72 sacks over a 16-game season, a mark that has stood for more than four decades. The Broncos finished 2025 with 68, four shy of tying it and good enough for a franchise record and a top-five finish in NFL history.
How Denver Built an NFL Sack Record Contender
Getting to 68 sacks wasn’t a one-man show. Denver spread the production across the roster, with eight different players notching at least four sacks on the year. Edge rusher Nik Bonitto led the group with 14, even though his individual numbers cooled down the stretch as he played through an injury. Allen finished fourth on the team with seven, a number that stands out given he lines up inside as a defensive tackle rather than off the edge.
That depth is the foundation of Allen’s confidence heading into 2026. A defense that gets pressure from multiple fronts is harder to game-plan against than one that leans on a single star. When an offensive line has to account for four or five credible pass rushers instead of one, it opens up the one-on-one matchups Allen referenced — and one-on-ones are where elite rushers cash in.
The following table breaks down Denver’s sack production from the 2025 season, along with the historical benchmark the team is chasing.
| Category | Total |
|---|---|
| Broncos team sacks, 2025 | 68 |
| Broncos team sacks, 2024 | 63 |
| NFL single-season record (1984 Bears, 16 games) | 72 |
| Nik Bonitto (team leader, 2025) | 14 |
| Zach Allen (team, 2025) | 7 |
| John Franklin-Myers (departed via free agency) | 7.5 |
The jump from 63 sacks in 2024 to 68 in 2025 shows a defense trending in the right direction under Joseph. Closing the final gap to the Bears’ mark means finding roughly five more sacks than last year produced — a real but not outlandish target for a unit this deep.
The Personnel Question: Replacing Franklin-Myers
Denver’s biggest offseason challenge on the defensive line is replacing John Franklin-Myers, who signed with the Titans in free agency after totaling 7.5 sacks in 2025. Losing a player who accounted for more than a tenth of the team’s total pressure is no small thing, even for a unit as deep as Denver’s.
Allen, for his part, sounded unbothered by the shakeup when discussing the group’s returning core following organized team activities at Broncos Park. He pointed to continuity elsewhere on the line — the same coaching staff and largely the same rotation that produced last year’s numbers — as reason to believe the group can absorb the loss. He specifically praised Sai’vion Jones, who barely saw the field last season behind a crowded depth chart, and Malcolm Roach, whose production held up in the games he played before a calf injury limited him.
Bonitto is the other swing factor. He set the team’s pace in 2025 despite battling injury issues in the second half of the season. A full, healthy year from Denver’s top edge rusher, paired with growth from the interior led by Allen, is the kind of combination that could turn “four sacks short” into “new NFL record.”
Why This Matters Beyond the Numbers
A record chase is good copy, but it also reflects something real about how Joseph has built this defense. Scheme matters as much as talent when it comes to sacks — a coordinator who consistently manufactures one-on-one blocking matchups for his best rushers is doing as much for the sack total as any individual player’s get-off or hand technique. Allen crediting Joseph directly, rather than just talking up the roster, is a signal of how much buy-in exists inside the building for that defensive design.
It’s also worth noting the historical context doesn’t make this an easy lift. The Bears’ mark has survived 41 NFL seasons, including plenty of pass-rush-heavy defenses that came up short. Denver’s chase will play out over 17 regular-season games rather than the 16 Chicago played in 1984, which gives the Broncos one additional contest to work with — a small but real structural advantage if the group stays productive and largely healthy.
