Denver Broncos: Offensive line shuffling around with Stephenson hurt
The Denver Broncos are dealing with the loss of right tackle Donald Stephenson for the time being, forcing some shuffling around on the offensive line…
To put it nicely, the Denver Broncos put together a patchwork offensive line last season and it was a major area of concern heading into the 2016 campaign.
John Elway would need to do major work on the offensive side of the football, and he did just that. Elway’s overhaul of the offensive line, in specific, has been incredibly impressive. The Broncos added Russell Okung to the left tackle position and Donald Stephenson to the right side, which has solidified the bookends for the most part.
On the interior, Matt Paradis has been incredible and Max Garcia has been a stud at left guard. The right guard position has been manned by Michael Schofield, who has looked much more comfortable in that position compared to his performance at times last year in the right tackle spot.
With one injury to right tackle Donald Stephenson, things took a drastic turn for the Broncos in terms of what they are going to do and what they will be able to do moving forward. Thankfully, along with the injury to Stephenson comes the return of former second round pick Ty Sambrailo, who has been penciled in as a starter for the Broncos at both left tackle and right guard and even started the 2015 season as the team’s left tackle before injuries hindered him.
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We wrote specifically about the potential impact Sambrailo could have as the offensive line looks for some new solutions now with Stephenson out for at least a game, and Gary Kubiak acknowledged his current myriad of options.
“We have a lot of options. I think with Donald [out] right now, I see us playing a lot of people. We could get into a rotation type of thing. Obviously [OL] Michael [Schofield] can play out there, Ty can play out there and even [OL Darrion] Weems can really play out there. We’ll have our seven and probably play them all.”
That’s a pretty vague declaration from Kubiak, who’s not trying to give too much away, but it would seem to make sense that Sambrailo — the team’s first starting guard at the outset of camp — would slide in at right guard and Schofield would play right tackle. The other option is to have Schofield stay at guard where he has excelled and put Sambrailo at right tackle. Yet another option is to have Darrion Weems at right guard and Schofield or Sambrailo at tackle.
With plenty of options on the table, the Broncos can get some much needed answers about the depth of their offensive line this week against the Bengals.