With the first week of training camp officially in the books, a variety of storylines have emerged from the practice field. How are Trevathan and Marshall doing? Is Osweiler making the most of his practice reps? Who will be our specialists? Although those questions have their reasoning and deserve to be explored, none of them have been as large as the question marks surrounding the offensive line. With only one sure-fire starter returning (Vasquez), the offensive line has been in every literal sense of the word, a battle in the trenches for the remaining starting slots. For a team with a veteran QB and Super Bowl aspirations, their path to the promise land will surely begin (or end) with the five men they have in front.
At the beginning of camp, we saw the starting offensive line have a blend of youth with grizzled experience in the NFL trenches. The starting offensive line to open camp were as follows
Sambrailo-Garland-Gradkowski-Vasquez-Clark
That lineup included everything from a Pro Bowl player to a rookie with a former defensive lineman mixed in there. That lineup stayed in tact through the first five days of camp, then, we saw a youth movement.
May 27, 2015; Englewood, CO, USA; Denver Broncos center Matt Paradis (61) warms up before the start of organized team activities at the Broncos training facility. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports
On day 6, the left side of the interior line got a little bit younger. Instead of Garland and Gradkowski handling LG and C positions, respectively, Max Garcia and Matt Paradis received their opportunity to be with the starting unit. Although it may have been a sudden development to see these two get reps with the starters, it should have come as no surprise to any fan. Before camp opened, Coach Kubiak was very vocal about giving different formations of the offensive line a shot with the intention of the line “growing together”. Despite exploring the possibilities of bringing in veteran linemen (Jake Long), the current coaching staff seems intent on have a young line grow together. For Broncos fans, that should be exciting news.
To me, this symbolizes the overall theme of what the current coaching staff envisions for building a team. With all due respect to the previous coaching staff in Denver, it’s become quite clear that the current staff takes pride in being great teachers of the game, along with being coaches. They have a firm stance on molding your own players and making the most of their abilities rather than relying on an experienced veteran to fill a temporary gap. With Garcia and Paradis being inserted into the starting line up, it provides us with a prime example of how the coaching staff is not afraid to experiment with youth.
Although the initial lack of experience from the entire left side of the line can be worrisome, I believe that this line up can ultimately become a strong point on the overall roster. Broncos fans must remember that some of the elite teams in this league have shared a similar mind set to Kubiak and his staff in regards to developing players. Teams like the Packers, Giants, Steelers and Patriots have all shared a similar philosophy when developing players and all have been handsomely rewarded for their teaching efforts.
Even though Garcia and Paradis have received first team reps the last two days of camp, there is no question that the experimentation along the offensive line will continue deep into camp. Although you want the best five players on the line at any one time, I will speak for all Broncos fans when I say that we hope our young guys can prove to be the best guys for the job and pave the way for our offensive success moving forward. There will be some expected bumps, but believe me, the Broncos long term success will hinge on those young guys up front and how well they grow together.