Top 6 Most Underrated Broncos Defenders From the 2025 Season

The Denver Broncos defense is one of the best in the entire NFL, and it's overflowing with talent. Nik Bonitto, Zach Allen, and Pat Surtain II are well-renowned for their contributions, but this defense has several other key cogs who are too often forgotten.

Who are some of the most underrated players on the Broncos' defense? Let's look.

Dondrea Tillman & Jonah Elliss

What makes the Denver Broncos pass rush so remarkably special isn't the high-end talent offered by Zach Allen and Nik Bonitto, but instead the incessant waves of pass rushers that Denver can throw at their opponents. The Broncos have been home to top-shelf pass-rushers in the past, and yet they never had a squad of pass-rushers quite this prolific, and having outstanding depth up front is the top reason for it.

Que Robinson appeared to be one of the most talented members of the Broncos' rookie class, yet he was only activated for six regular-season games, because the Broncos simply couldn't afford to take any of the top-four edge defenders off the field, including Dondrea Tillman and Jonah Elliss.

In their second seasons with the team, Tillman and Elliss combined for 6.5 sacks and 26 quarterback pressures, while boasting pressure rates of 11.2% and 12.3%, respectively. For comparison's sake, Khalil Mack finished this season with a 13.1% pressure rate, while T.J. Watt earned a 10.1% pressure rate.

Now, obviously, Tillman and Elliss are finding that production over a much smaller sample, but it's incredibly valuable how the Broncos can keep Nik Bonitto and Jonathon Cooper fresh while still knowing their high-end pass-rush impact will be maintained by Tillman and Elliss.

Plus, Tillman has added a lot to the defense as a run-defender, considering his size and physicality compared to Denver's other edge players. He also snagged two interceptions in 2025.

Malcolm Roach & Eyioma Uwazurike

John Franklin-Myers has been one of the Denver Broncos' best players ever since they acquired him via trade, which is why, before the season, so many were worried about what his likely departure in 2026 would do to Denver's marvelous depth along its defensive front.

Those fears have been dampened greatly, thanks to massive leaps from both Malcolm Roach and Eyioma Uwazurike. Now, both Roach and Uwazurike fill different roles than Franklin-Myers, but still, their developmental leap helps raise and solidify the floor of this unit for Denver.

This past season, Roach emerged as one of the league's best run-stuffers. He earned ESPN's 7th-highest run-stop win-rate among defensive tackles and also set a new career-best mark for sacks with 4.0. As a result, he earned a lucrative three-year extension that will allow him to continue to blossom in the Mile High City.

While Roach had established himself as a key role player prior to the 2025 season, Uwazurike was barely a factor on the roster prior to this year. With 409 defensive snaps this season, the Iowa State mammoth easily eclipsed his total combined playing time from his first three years in the league (228). He earned that inflated role too, serving as a mountain in the middle of the Broncos' defense that other teams struggled to move.

Justin Strnad

Last year, when Justin Strnad filled in for Alex Singleton and the defense failed to miss a beat, it was impressive, but it was also largely overlooked by Broncos Country. Singleton is a replacement-level linebacker, so replacing him wasn't a jaw-dropping feat.

Now, making Broncos fans largely numb to the absence of their high-priced free-agent addition, Dre Greenlaw? That'll raise some eyebrows.

In 2025, Strnad appeared in 16 games, starting eight, and finished fifth on the team in tackles, tackles for loss, and sacks. Notably, the only Broncos with more sacks than Strnad this season were Nik Bonitto, Jonathon Cooper, John Franklin-Myers, and Zach Allen. Strnad thrived in Vance Joseph's defense each of the past two seasons, thanks to his suddenness and feel as a blitzer and his development in coverage

With Strnad set to be an unrestricted free agent, Denver should seriously consider re-signing him, either to maintain their quality insurance plan at linebacker or even give him a chance at the starting gig.

Riley Moss

Having Pat Surtain II in Denver is a blessing for nearly everybody in Broncos Country. Unfortunately, it's a curse for whoever is forced to play on the outside opposite of him, and Riley Moss is the latest victim.

Moss was the most penalized cornerback in the NFL, and, per Next Gen Stats, he was also the most-targeted cornerback (116 targets) and allowed the second-most yards of any other cornerback this season. So how does a cursed player with those stats on his résumé earn a spot on this list?

His stats are more about his surroundings than any deficiency in his play. With Surtain opposite him and Ja'Quan McMillian in the slot, he's in a spot where teams are predisposed to throwing the ball his way, which inevitably results in production.

Sure, he's targeted a lot, but he forced the seventh-highest rate of incompletions and the third-highest rate of tight-window throws among the league's 40-most-targeted cornerbacks. He's playing like one of the better No. 2 cornerbacks in the game on a per-target basis. He just unfortunately plays against the best No. 1 corner, so he sees a lot more targets than most.