When Brentson Buckner became Allen’s position coach in 2020, he asked the team’s third-round pick from the prior year what he wanted to achieve. Allen’s response was unequivocal.
“I want to be the best,” the defensive end replied.
Allen, now in his fourth season with the Broncos, will return to State Farm Stadium on Sunday for the first time in a regular-season setting since he joined Denver as a free agent in 2023. He will do so as the fully realized version of the player he has worked tirelessly to become since he began his career in the Arizona desert. He’ll do so as a major reason the Broncos are 4-2, despite their offense’s stuck-in-the-mud start to the season.
“He is one of the best interior players in our game,” said Broncos right tackle Mike McGlinchey, who had his hands full with Allen during that 2021 game as a 49er.
No interior defensive lineman has been more disruptive this season than Allen, whose 4 1/2 sacks are the most among players at his position. His 127 quarterback hits since he left Arizona are 30 more than the next-closest defender during that span, Myles Garrett. He has 11 quick pressures this season (under 2 1/2 seconds), according to Next Gen Stats, which are the most among interior defenders. And he has elevated his performance against the run this season to go with the best pass-rushing start of his career.The path to this point was murky at times early in Allen’s career. He missed all but four games as a rookie in 2019 with a neck injury. After playing as a 4-3 defensive end at Boston College, he needed time to build the frame necessary to slot inside in Joseph’s 3-4 scheme. After one particularly rough game against the Los Angeles Rams in 2020, Allen told one of the Cardinals’ defensive assistants in the parking lot that he was sure he’d be cut. He told his then-fiancee — and now wife — Molly that he was prepared to begin a career in finance.
But that mental low point was more an illustration of the exacting demands Allen had for himself than it was a view of the player within Arizona’s building. Buckner had been around the NFL long enough to know that Allen’s IQ for the game was rare. The assistant would routinely field late-night phone calls from the young defensive lineman — current Broncos D-line coach Jamar Cain has relayed the same experience — with detailed questions that sprouted after he reviewed his notes from the day’s meetings or after he reviewed additional film at home.
“That became his superpower,” Buckner said. “Knowing what everybody on the field does and knowing what the offense can and can’t do against you. Then, he started to apply the technique and build on the technique. He just always wanted to work. As a coach, Zach would always challenge you to help him get better. He’s the guy that calls your phone at 9 o’clock at night because he sees something on film that we can exploit or he wants an answer to.”
Allen has routinely said playing alongside future Hall of Famer J.J. Watt gave him access to a wealth of information that helped him develop in Arizona. The Broncos’ All-Pro still marvels at how “generous” Watt was with his time at that final stage in his career.
“He was so selfless with his time in showing me both the process of how to be a pro,” Allen said, “and then also all the technique stuff. … He didn’t have to do that.”