Denver Broncos: The 5 most important training camp battles in 2020

1. Right tackle

Right now, there’s no more important ‘battle’ on the Denver Broncos’ 2020 roster than the right tackle position.

As of the time of this writing, there’s not much of a battle going on.

Elijah Wilkinson was expected to compete with Garett Bolles for the starting left tackle position, but when starting right tackle Ja’Wuan James decided to opt-out of the 2020 season, it opened up the starting role for Wilkinson again on the right side.

If the season started this Sunday, Wilkinson would unquestionably be the Broncos’ starting right tackle.

With some time and a ‘full’ training camp still to go, there’s a chance he could be pushed by a veteran.

Specifically, the Broncos have a deal in place with veteran Demar Dotson, formerly of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Dotson, 34, was an 11-year starter for the Bucs, who replaced him this offseason with rookie Tristan Wirfs out of Iowa.

If or when Dotson is signed, the Broncos will have to take a look in camp and consider their one-year options with either Wilkinson or Dotson starting at right tackle.

Dotson’s track record leads me to believe he would be the guy in the starting lineup opening day, especially after some of the struggles we saw from Wilkinson in 2019.

The Broncos also have a very confident young developmental player in Calvin Anderson, who has been fun to watch on Twitter this offseason as he subtly campaigned for himself amidst all of the change happening with the Broncos’ tackle positions.

It’s clear at this point that the Broncos don’t want to resort to a player like Jake Rodgers playing significant snaps again in the 2020 season, so it’s going to be Bolles at left tackle with Wilkinson and likely Dotson battling it out for right tackle.

Dotson would have to be the favorite there with Wilkinson available as the swing tackle in the event that either Bolles or Dotson would become unavailable.