Broncos upgrade offensive line in PFF 2020 mock draft

The Denver Broncos have a couple of major needs on the offensive line, and PFF predicts they will address them in a unique way in their latest mock draft.

Depending on the flavor of the week, you might see a number of different offensive linemen going early to the Denver Broncos in mock drafts.

As a matter of fact, I put together a mock draft on Monday where the Broncos selected Louisville offensive tackle Mekhi Becton as a potential replacement for Garett Bolles.

But what if the Broncos aren’t ready to give up on Bolles? It’s reasonable to think they will hang onto him for another year, especially with the way he played down the stretch last season. The Broncos also have Mike Munchak on staff, and he’s known for being one of the best developers of talent on the offensive line over the last 15 or so years.

If Munchak says he can make things work with Bolles, isn’t that kind of what the Broncos paid for?

Even if the team decides they can make it work with Bolles, the Broncos have needs at center and right guard this offseason. Nothing has yet been made official, but the Broncos are expected to cut starting right guard Ron Leary this offseason and starting center Connor McGovern is a free agent in waiting.

Pro Football Focus put together a first-round mock draft scenario where the Broncos would keep Garett Bolles at left tackle — for now — and insert a new player into the right guard position.

That player is Iowa’s Tristan Wirfs.

I have talked at length about why a player like Wirfs would make the most sense for the Broncos if he’s there in the first round, at least in terms of picking an offensive lineman.

Basically, the shortened version is that the Broncos would be drafting a player in Wirfs with positional flexibility. He could play either right or left tackle well in the NFL but some talent evaluators feel he is best suited to play guard.

And that’s okay.

If the Broncos were able to get the best out of Bolles and keep him at left tackle while having left guard and right guard solidified by Dalton Risner and Tristan Wirfs along with Ja’Wuan James at right tackle? That would be ideal.

It might seem lofty at this point because of what we’ve seen from Bolles and what we haven’t seen from James, but drafting a player like Wirfs not only would solidify right guard, it would give you insurance at either of the tackle spots.

Wirfs feels like a ‘set and forget’ type of player on the offensive line, similar to Dalton Risner, where you can just put him in a spot and watch him have success early and often.

There are plenty of options for the Broncos in the early rounds of the 2020 NFL Draft, but taking one or two offensive linemen with their top five picks is a no-brainer. Wirfs would be as good of a solution as any.