It’s hard to talk about the Broncos’ defensive line without accounting for all the injuries that worked their way through the group in 2020. A starting lineup of Mike Purcell, Shelby Harris, and Jurrell Casey in week 1 became Deshawn Williams, Dre’Mont Jones, DeMarcus Walker by season’s end, with each of the veterans landing on Injured Reserve.
Given all the injuries up front, you’d expect the Broncos run D to collapse. It did.
Through the first five games, the Broncos run D was one of the best in the league by Football Outsiders’ DVOA stat, finishing with a -19 or better four times, a figure that would have been good for a top 11 mark across the NFL if it held up all year.