A Left To Right Look at the Denver Broncos Offensive Line

Broncos Offseason: Taking a look at how the Broncos offensive line is shaping up and projecting the starting five when the regular season begins against the Carolina Panthers.

Say whatever you will about the quarterback play from a season ago; Peyton Manning was old, his arm was weak, he couldn’t make the throws; while there is certainly some truth to this, the fact of the matter was his offensive line was downright terrible.  When I watch film from 2012 and 2013, the differences between Manning then, and Manning in 2015 weren’t that large.  What was different is the amount of time Peyton had to throw, and the lanes that were opened up for the likes of Willis Mcgahee and Knowshon Moreno.  In 2015, the Broncos offensive line was mangled with injuries, and was highly inconsistent.  In 2016, I would expect that they are vastly improved, not only with the starters, but with quality depth as well.  I can think of a couple different combinations that they could go with, but any of them should be a huge upgrade from what they had to work with in 2015.  Let’s go left to right to look what could become of the line in 2016:

Left Tackle:  The left tackle spot has been upgraded from the journeyman Ryan Harris, who started the final 13 games of the

regular season, plus playoffs at the spot.  While Harris provided a stable veteran presence on the young line, he got beat an awful lot last year.  Russell Okung will handle this job this year, and has been fantastic at protecting the blind side for Russell Wilson for years.  While the Seahawks had their own line problems a year ago, Russell Okung, when healthy, was the one bright spot on that line, as graded out very well.  Expect him to fit in fantastically with the zone-blocking that the Broncos do, as he ran a similar zone set his entire career with the Seahawks.  Harris filled in for Ryan Clady a year ago and was serviceable, but to put a pro-bowl caliber player in his spot at the most important position on the offensive line will prove to be a huge upgrade.

Left Guard:  The left guard spot is a bit up in the air at this time, especially after the draft pick of Missouri product Connor Mcgovern, who is quite the specimen, and looks like he could be a very capable guard in this league.  While Evan Mathis was very good in the run game this past season, he struggled mightily in pass protection, and was often injured, limiting practice time and his effectiveness in games.  I believe the Broncos are looking at a possibility of three guys for the position: Mcgovern, second year man Ty Sambrailo, who would have to make the move from tackle to guard, and Max Garcia, who in my opinion is far more suited to play on the right side of the line.  It’s yet to be

seen how Sambrailo will adapt to playing guard, but hes a big, athletic guy who can really move.  In the zone-blocking scheme, he, at least on paper, would seem to be an ideal fit.  Mcgovern was a fantastic pickup in the 5th round, and is probably a more prototypical guard than Sambrailo.  Camp will tell if he’s ready for action this year, or if he may fill a 2015 Max Garcia type role and work spot duty and backup to both guard positions.

Center:  The center position is still manned by Matt Paradis, who was up and down in 2015, but was the steady force on the offense, as he was the only player last year to play every offensive snap for the Broncos.  He spent his rookie year on the practice squad, so last season was his first year in action.

Players typically make a huge jump in year two, and I believe the Broncos are truly counting on that from Paradis.  The coaches seem to like him a lot, so he’s certainly not going anywhere and will hopefully improve upon his play this coming season.  If something were to happen to Paradis, it would most likely Max Garcia sliding to center where he played at his time at the University of Florida.  The versatility of this line is something that could prove to be very valuable.

Right Guard:  I believe the Broncos would like to go Max Garcia here, but like left guard, they could look at Sambrailo and Mcgovern here as well.  Garcia is far more powerful than Sambrailo, and typically it works best to go more power on the right side of the line, and more athletic on the left side.  During his rookie season, Garcia played at both guard spots, either giving breathers to, or filling in for injuries to both Evan Mathis and Louis Vasquez.  The best the line looked all year last year was in the week 12 game against the Patriots in which Evan Mathis was given the week off to rest an injury, and Garcia got the start in his place.  However, Mathis still suited up in case of injury, and he ended up being needed.  Vasquez ended up getting injured, and so Garcia slid over to right guard.  The line

became much more effective, and the run game opened way up at that point, as the Broncos stormed back from a 14-point fourth quarter deficit to get the win.  Brock Osweiler got all the credit for that win, but things turned as soon as Garcia moved to the right guard spot.  If he can play with this type of effectiveness in 2016, he will prove to be a huge upgrade over an oft-injured, and overly ineffective Louis Vasquez, who was phenomenal his first few years in Denver, but battled multiple injuries and never truly meshed with the zone-blocking scheme once Kubiak arrived.  In my opinion, Garcia should be the right guard, but if they prefer him at left guard, it’ll be down to Sambrailo or Mcgovern to win the job in camp.

Right Tackle:  This was the worst spot on the line in 2015, as Michael Schofield proved time and time again that he was just not an effective tackle in the league.  The good news for the Broncos this season is that they would have at least two options to play in front of Schofield, so barring a complete injury catastrophe, Schofield should be an emergency tackle this season.  Donald Stephenson was signed away from the division

rival Kansas City Chiefs, and while he has struggled at times in the power-man blocking scheme that Kansas City uses, his skill-set matches up very nicely with the zone-blocking scheme, as he is a very athletic tackle that moves well.  It seems he would have the inside track to be the starting right tackle, however last year they drafted Ty Sambrailo with the idea that he would be their right tackle of the future.  If Mcgovern is ready to go at the guard spot, it could be a training camp battle for the right tackle position between Stephenson and Sambrailo, with the loser of this battle being the backup swing tackle.  The great part about both Sambrailo, and Stephenson is their versatility to move all

over the line.  Sambrailo was drafted to play tackle, but is going to get a long look at guard.  Even if he is a guard, he could still play either tackle position if need be, as he did open last season as the starting left tackle.  Stephenson has spent time at both tackle positions during his career, and is believed to be able to play guard in a pinch as well.  This bodes well for the Broncos having options, if and when the injury bug strikes.  The Broncos essentially have six starting caliber lineman, and the ability to keep five starters on the field, even if one goes down is huge.

The Ideal Lineup:

Starting- Okung- Mcgovern- Paradis- Garcia- Sambrailo

Backups- Stephenson- Schofield- Ferentz- Day

In this lineup, you could certainly interchange Sambrailo and Stephenson depending on who performs better during the preseason, with the one who loses the job being not only the swing tackle, but the swing guard in case a guard either goes down, or Garcia has to fill in for Paradis.  Schofield is available, but it would be best to keep him off the field if all possible, but at least he has experience.  James Ferentz and Dillon Day would provide depth, but hopefully aren’t needed to play significant minutes at any point.  As I mentioned earlier, having 6 starting caliber players, with all but Russell Okung and Matt Paradis being able to play different positions is a huge bonus for this team, and really allows them to keep their best players on the field if others get hurt.

The Broncos should be vastly improved along the offensive line, and that alone could improve the quarterback play from a year ago, regardless of who wins that job.  The Broncos have assembled an athletic, fast offensive line, and they should be downright dominant in the running game.  C.J. Anderson and Devontae Booker should be licking their chops to play behind this offensive line, and if all goes well, will be running their way straight to Houston to hoist yet another Lombardi.