Denver Broncos success on offense starts with the offensive line
The Broncos’ offensive line will hopefully be much improved in 2018. If it is improved, with new additions, the Broncos offense has a chance to be great…
A weak spot for the Denver Broncos last season was their offensive line. Without a solid group up front, the team — led by three quarterbacks, Demaryius Thomas, Emmanuel Sanders and CJ Anderson — struggled.
Denver started a rookie lineman at left tackle, which is the most important position on offense aside from quarterback. Garett Bolles was the guy. The Broncos drafted him to be a franchise player. Unfortunately, in his rookie season, he accumulated a bunch of penalties.
In fact, Bolles finished the 2017 season tied for the second-most penalties in the entire league.
The hope is that, and I believe there is a strong chance of it happening, Bolles’ second season turns out much better than his rookie year. Yes, Bolles was put into a tough position last year. He also had to protect three different quarterbacks during the entire year.
With Case Keenum locked in as the starting quarterback for the Broncos, and Bolles coming back more experienced at left tackle, I think it will be a lot better of a situation.
Keenum joins the Broncos as a guy who has been through ups and downs throughout his career. He has had some poor seasons, but he also had a magical one last year with the Vikings. He also has never had wide receivers as good as the ones he will have with the Broncos.
Denver brought Jared Veldheer to the Mile High City in a trade with the Arizona Cardinals. He will compete with other guys to become the team’s starter at right tackle.
As the depth chart stands right now, the offensive line looks like this:
LT: Garett Bolles
LG: Ronald Leary
C: Matt Paradis
RG: Connor McGovern
RT: Jared Veldheer
If the offensive line does its job, the sky’s the limit for the Broncos’ skill players.
Receiver Demaryius Thomas finished the year 51 yards shy of another 1,000-yard season. Just 51 yards. With three different quarterbacks. Just think what he will be able to do with one quarterback for the entire 2018 season.
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Case Keenum is not 2013 Peyton Manning. He’s not even close to Peyton Manning. He is also not three quarterbacks with different attributes in one body. He brings experience, as well as knowledge, to the Denver Broncos.
Yes, I know there are still going to be people in Broncos Country who aren’t convinced that Keenum is the guy. We just need to give him a chance; a chance with the great wide receivers we already have. A chance with a mostly-new and very young running back group.
The position on offense that excites me the most is the running backs.
Denver released starter CJ Anderson this offseason when Devontae Booker and De’Angelo Henderson were the only ones left at the position. At first, I was baffled by the move. Then, the Broncos used two draft choices on running backs: Royce Freeman and David Williams.
Don’t forget about the guy they signed as an undrafted free agent: Phillip Lindsay.
This running back group has a chance to be great. So great that Daniel Jeremiah of NFL Network thinks Freeman has a chance to win the rushing title in his rookie season.
If Freeman lands the starting running back job in training camp, which is absolutely a possibility, his quest to become the league’s number one rusher starts up front on the new (and improved) offensive line of the Denver Broncos.