The Denver Broncos had an outstanding regular season, finishing with a 14-3 record en route to the No. 1 seed in the American Football Conference and securing the first-round bye.
There was team success and there was individual success. You don’t have as good of a regular season as Denver had without having some players who were better than their positional peers, which is why the Broncos had six players selected to the Associated Press All-Pro teams.
Defensive end Zach Allen, left tackle Garret Bolles, special teamer/safety Devon Key and left guard Quinn Meinerz were selected to the first team while cornerback Pat Surtain II and safety Talanoa Hufanga made the second team.
Four first team selections tie a franchise record, set in 1977 and 1996, and the six total selections are tied for second-most in team history, according to ESPN’s Jeff Legwold.
Linebacker Nik Bonitto had a great season but missed the mark to be selected. He missed getting selected to the second team by one vote. Bonitto recorded 14 sacks (fifth in National Football League), two forced fumbles and 46 total tackles in his fourth season with the Broncos.
Allen had a phenomenal year for an interior lineman, recording seven sacks and leading the NFL in quarterback hits. This is the second straight season that Allen logged 40 or more QB hits.
Bolles was incredible in pass protection for quarterback Bo Nix this season, receiving a 90.8 pass block grade (first among 89 qualified tackles). He is a bit more vulnerable as a run blocker, but he had an overall grade of 89.3, making him the fifth-best tackle in the NFL according to PFF.
Key was impactful as a special teamer and got most of his snaps there. Not only was it his first All-Pro selection, he is the first Bronco in franchise history to make first team All-Pro as a special teamer. Key had a forced fumble and led the league with 26 special teams tackles, breaking the team record of 23.
Meinerz was selected to his second-consecutive first team and is the first Bronco to do so since Von Miller did it in 2015 and 2016. He allowed just two sacks, the fewest amongst guards with 600 or more pass-blocking snaps, per Sports Illustrated’s Chad Jensen.
Surtain and Hufanga both had incredible seasons but missed the first team mark. The Broncos will host the lowest remaining seed in the Divisional Round of the playoffs next week.