Broncos Training Camp: Five Burning Questions

June 9, 2015; Englewood, CO, USA; Denver Broncos tackle Ty Sambrailo (74) and tackle Michael Schofield (79) perform blocking drills during mini camp activities at the Broncos training facility. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

3. What’s the Winning Combination on the Offensive Line?

I think this is a really important question the Broncos have to answer. They are obviously going to start Ty Sambrailo at left tackle, and I don’t know about you, but I feel oddly at peace about that. Sambrailo played left tackle at Colorado State, and the big knock on him coming out was his functional strength.

We’ll see what he’s done about that since April, and we’ll see what the Broncos do to make adjustments for it if it’s something he still struggles with.

WARNING: EXPECT THE OFFENSIVE LINE TO STRUGGLE IN TRAINING CAMP.

I’m putting that in all-caps so you’re not taken by surprise when reporters are feeding us all stories about how the Broncos’ offensive line is getting beat up at camp. Why do I say that? Because the Broncos’ pass rush is going to be ferocious. It’s going to be aggressive. It’s going to be unpredictable, and it’s going to take a lot of time to adjust to that and start winning battles in  training camp.

The Broncos’ pass rush is full of grown men. There are a lot of young guys on the offensive line, and unproven players. Please, join me in not over-reacting when the offensive line struggles a bit, at least in the early part of training camp.

For my money, I would like to see the Broncos finish ultimately with a combination of players on the offensive line that includes both Sambrailo (2015 2nd round pick) and Michael Schofield (2014 3rd round pick) otherwise the investment the team made in Schofield would seem to be a waste when there were still really good players on the board that they could have actually used.

You don’t use third round picks on backup offensive linemen, in my opinion. They might wind up being that, but hopefully he proves himself and gets a chance to play.

In all likelihood, we’re going to see a starting five in training camp of Sambrailo, Ben Garland (LG), Gino Gradkowski (C), Louis Vasquez (RG), and Chris Clark (RT). To be honest, I might be a bit surprised if that’s the unit on opening day, but it very well could be.

Next: Locking Up Demaryius