When John Franklin-Myers dumped New Orleans quarterback Spencer Rattler for a sack in the third quarter Thursday, it meant another $1,000 for the Sarcoma Foundation of America.
And it meant another time that the Broncos defensive end could recognize his late grandfather Billy Ray Myers.
Franklin-Myers is donating $1,000 for each sack and $25 for each tackle this season to sarcoma research in the memory of Myers, who helped raise him in Greenville, Texas, and who died of the cancer in February 2011. He now has three sacks on the season and 16 tackles.
That’s not all Franklin-Myers is doing this season for sarcoma. On Saturday, there will be a Franklin-Myers team entered in the Race to Cure Sarcoma at Denver’s Berkeley Lake Park. And on Dec. 2 against the Cleveland Browns at Empower Field at Mile, Franklin-Myers is scheduled to wear cleats making note of the Sarcoma Foundation of America (SFA) during the NFL’s annual “My Cause My Cleats” campaign.
“I’m extremely grateful that I get the opportunity to use my platform to help the Sarcoma Foundation,’’ said Franklin-Myers, 28, who is in his first Denver season after being acquired last April from the New York Jets. “That means a lot to me. When grandpa (got the cancer) there was no opportunity, there wasn’t enough research when his time was up and that was a person who meant the most to me. And if I can help find somebody to not feel (what Myers did), that’s the least I can do.”
When Franklin-Myers was about 7, he and his sister Alexis Myers-Vega, who is a year older, were living in foster care in Los Angeles. It was Myers and his wife who brought the two to live with them in Greenville, an hour northeast of Dallas.
“He moved us to Texas,’’ said Franklin-Myers, who has two young children. “That’s a man who understood what it was like to be the head of the household, and he instilled all that stuff in me. To this day, he’s the reason I am what I am. … He was one of the most influential people in my life.”
Franklin-Myers said his grandfather taught him lessons such as to “never give up.” He developed into a star football player at Greenville High School and at Stephen F. Austin University in Nacogdoches, Texas.
Franklin-Myers then was taken by the Los Angeles Rams in the fourth round of the 2018 NFL draft. As he was entering the NFL, he made a request to his agent, Cliff Brady.
“One of the first things we talked about when he picked me as an agent is he said he wanted to something (for sarcoma research),’’ Brady said.
As a rookie trying to find his way in the NFL, Franklin-Myers couldn’t do much for the cause in 2018. But after being waived by Rams before the start of the 2019 season and being claimed by the Jets, he began to become an established player.
By 2021, Franklin-Myers had become a regular starter for the Jets. He became very active in using his platform to help benefit sarcoma, a rare but aggressive malignant tumor that forms in the body’s connective tissues such as bones, muscles, fat, blood vessels, and nerves.
Franklin-Myers became an ambassador for the SFA to help combat a cancer that is diagnosed in about 17,000 Americans annually and has resulted in about 7,000 annual deaths in recent years. It accounts for only about 1% of all cancers but between 15% to 20% in children.
“John isn’t just connected with the SFA for publicity,’’ said Brandi Felser, CEO of the foundation. “John is one of the most genuine people I’ve ever met. … His grandfather played a significant role in his life, and he never was able to see him play in the NFL. For John, this is personal. He’s willing to do anything he can for us that he can fit into his schedule.”
With the Jets, while also doing work for the SFA, Franklin-Myers partnered with the Marty Lyons Foundation, a charity named after the former Jets defensive lineman that helps children with life-threatening illnesses. Franklin-Myers spoke at the SFA’s annual gala in 2023 in New York and presented one of its Courage Awards. He also has made a video for the SFA telling the story of his grandfather.
“The least I can do is just show my support and do what I can,’’ Franklin-Myers said.
With the Jets, Franklin-Myers also made donations of $1,000 for each sack and $25 for each tackle. He had 17 ½ sacks and 106 tackles in his last three seasons with the Jets although Brady said he ended up donating money beyond what he had pledged with statistics.
During “My Cause My Cleats” games with the Jets, Franklin-Myers wore a pair of cleats making note of the SFA in the first half and of the Marty Lyons Foundation in the second half. A pair of his Marty Lyons Foundation cleats had pictures of Luna Belle Perrone, a young girl befriended by Franklin-Myers who lives in South Florida and has battled sarcoma.
“She’s a big soccer fan and she wanted a soccer field in her backyard, so we earmarked that sack total John was going to have (with the Jets) toward that,’’ Brady said. “She was earmarked because she had sarcoma.”
Franklin-Myers has met with Perrone on several occasions over the past few years. Brady said the miniature soccer field in her backyard cost about $30,000 and was completed with donations from Franklin-Myers and from the Marty Lyons Foundation.
Cleats Franklin-Myers wore with the Jets to recognize the SFA had in big letters on them, “Cure Sarcoma.”
“My Cause My Cleats is a huge platform and something that I’m extremely grateful for,’’ he said.
Each year, Franklin-Myers has cleats from the campaign auctioned off to raise funds for the SFA. Last year, a sarcoma survivor and Jets fan bought his Jets SFA cleats for about $650. Franklin-Myers met him and provided him with game tickets.
On Oct. 1, the SFA cleats Franklin-Myers is scheduled to wear against the Browns were auctioned off. Felser said there was a “bidding war” before she bought them for more than $1,100.
“I wanted to have them not just because I’m the CEO of SFA, but because I think so much of John as a human being,’’ Felser said. “I just felt that having those cleats is really important for us as an organization and me personally. John is truly dedicated to raising awareness for sarcoma and for changing outcomes for people by using his platform.”
For Saturday, Franklin-Myers is lending support for the Race to Cure Sarcoma, which gets underway at 8:30 a.m. Franklin-Myers doesn’t expect to make it to the event because the Broncos will have meetings and a walkthrough in preparation for Sunday’s game against Carolina at Empower Field at Mile High. However, he will have representatives on hand “from my side of things.”
The Denver event is one of about 20 held annually around the country by the SFA. The course is 5 kilometers, but it is a non-competitive race, and participants can walk or run and complete as much of it as they want. Most of the participants at such events are sarcoma survivors and those who have had family members and friends affected by the cancer.
Anyone is welcome to join Franklin-Myers’ team for the event. The cost is $35 for adults and $10 for children with those 5 and under free $5. Those interested in joining the team can go to www.curesarcoma.org.
Felser said about the first 50 joining the team will receive a Franklin-Myers “98.0 JFM QB hits” T-shirt, a slogan derived from his No. 98 and made to sound like a radio station. A number of those T-shirts have been made and the defensive end hands out some to fans before each Broncos home game. He also at each home game has his son Kyler, 4, toss 20 miniature footballs to kids that have “98.0 JFM QB hits” written on them.
Against the Panthers, Franklin-Myers will look to beef up his quarterback hits. His sack in the 33-10 win over the Saints was his third in the past five games.
“We’re trying to get to double digits (this season),’’ Brady said.
That would be $10,000 worth of sacks for the Sarcoma Foundation of America, an amount that could end up being doubled. Brady said the Broncos will match all of Franklin-Myers’ donations this season up to $10,000.
And whenever Franklin-Myers gets a sack, it’s another chance for him to pay homage to his grandfather.
“The thing that sticks out the most is (him) telling me to just never give up,’’ Franklin-Myers said. “That’s just not what I do. I never give up. That is something that has stuck with me.”
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