Zach Allen goes back to Arizona this week, and he was clear about who he credits for getting him to this point. “I owe a lot to VJ, and I really don’t think I’d be in this position without him,” the Denver Broncos defensive lineman said Monday, meaning defensive coordinator Vance Joseph. “I’m really, really blessed and fortunate to obviously get drafted to Arizona with him and then to, you know, follow him here to Denver.”
Arizona drafted Allen in the third round (No. 65) out of Boston College in 2019, the same year Joseph became the Cardinals’ defensive coordinator. Allen played four seasons there. Joseph moved to Denver in 2023 and Allen signed as a free agent that spring. On Sunday, the 4-2 Broncos play the Cardinals in Glendale, Arizona. “Selfishly, you know, I want to be with him forever,” Allen said. “So he’s the best.” Joseph was the Broncos’ head coach in 2017 and 2018, and Allen added, “We’ll see how the head coaching stuff goes again.”
“Where I grew up basically in this league”
Allen said the trip still means something to him. “It’s where I grew up basically in this league,” he said. He mentioned the hard times in his first couple of years, meeting Joseph there, and having J.J. Watt as a mentor. “There’s still some people, some staff members there that, you know, mean a lot to me, so it is a special place,” he said. The Cardinals plan to put Larry Fitzgerald, a teammate of Allen’s in 2019 and 2020, into their Ring of Honor at halftime.
Watt played with Arizona in 2021 and 2022, his last two seasons. Allen said Watt did not have to spend time on a young lineman, especially with the Cardinals in a playoff push in 2021 and Watt on what Allen called a farewell tour in 2022. “He still, you know, was really selfless with his time,” Allen said, “just kind of just showing me things, you know, both with, you know, the process of how to, you know, be a pro and then also like actual football technique stuff.” He said he now sees the same thing in Denver’s younger linemen. “They’re taking the initiative of, ‘Hey, can you show me this? Hey, why are you doing this?’” he said.
The year he knew
Asked when he realized he could be this kind of player, Allen picked his first season in Denver, 2023. That year was the first time he played without Watt next to him. “Probably like the big, like, ‘OK, I could really do this,’ was probably my first year here in Denver, like to become like an All-Pro type of player,” he said. “My numbers weren’t like the flashiest, but I felt like I played at a high level.” He had five sacks that season, then 8.5 in 2024 and seven in 2025. Through six games this year he has 4.5. In Thursday’s 17-14 overtime win over Seattle, he had five tackles, a half-sack and two passes defensed.
He said he and his wife made a list of teams they would like to play for before free agency started, before he had any offers, and Denver was on it. When it worked out, he said, “it was almost kind of like a, you know, like a sign.” He called signing with a team coming off a bad year “a little bit of a leap of faith,” but said knowing Joseph made it easier. “I know what I’m getting into with VJ, at least,” he said. “I know in hockey they say like Original Six franchises, but like the Broncos are, you know, easily up there in the most storied franchises.”
Jonathon Cooper is eligible again
Denver could also get outside linebacker Jonathon Cooper back on Sunday. The league took Cooper off the commissioner’s exempt list on Friday, after he missed the first six games following two arrests in June. He has pleaded not guilty, and the NFL has said its review under the personal conduct policy is ongoing. The Broncos have until Saturday to add him to the 53-man roster if they want him to play.
Allen said Cooper had stayed in shape while away. “Coop’s been a huge part of our success the past few years,” he said. “He energizes the group with just, you know, his play style.” He added, “Just like seeing him around the building today, um, you know, you could just see he really stayed in great shape.”
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