5 moves the Denver Broncos must make in 2023 offseason
By Andrew Wade
Beg Mike Munchak to come back
When diving into the numbers, they aren’t exactly screaming to bring Mike Munchak back into the fold. The Pro Football Focus numbers have the Denver Broncos run blocking grade this year at 64. In the previous three seasons under Mike Munchak, it was 67.1, 58, and 61.1. Similarly, the Denver Broncos’ pass-blocking grade this year is 65.5. In the previous three seasons, it was 71.4, 62.5, and 74.3.
Two important caveats to this are that Pro Football Focus grades are not the end-all-be-all of evaluation metrics but they are one tool to utilize, and in this case, they don’t accurately paint the picture of the impact Mike Munchak had on this offensive line. The other caveat is that your line is only as good as your quarterback and coordinator meaning if your quarterback holds the ball too long or your coordinator isn’t setting you up for success with the play calling, you’re are likely to see some regression with a line (which I believe is certainly in play here as well).
My biggest argument stands with the play of one player, Garett Bolles. Bolles was considered a bust before Mike Munchak arrived. Under Mike Munchak, Bolles cut his penalties by over 50% going from 14 and 15 in his first two years in the league to 8 and 7 in his last two seasons with Munchak. This year, without Munchak, he was on pace for a career-high 18 penalties. Moreover, his run-blocking and pass-blocking grades were trending at pre-Munchak levels.
As a unit, we’ve seen a massive amount of success for offensive lines in Denver and Pittsburgh under the tutelage of Mike Munchak.
Finally, it would be good to have a stabilizing force on the offensive side of the ball. This becomes even more important if the Denver Broncos are looking to promote Ejiro Evero to head coach next year.
Munchak has yet to accept a job elsewhere, and he is still in the Denver area. It was wrong of him to be let go last year when Nathaniel Hackett joined the organization, but bringing him back would make things right.