Sean Payton bringing interesting OL tendencies to Denver Broncos

Conclusions to be drawn for Denver Broncos

What conclusions can we draw from this?

Long-term, I think it's safe to assume the Denver Broncos will be in the market for offensive linemen within the first two rounds of the NFL Draft. They obviously didn't have either of those this year (at least, not to start with) but the first two rounds of the NFL Draft will present you with the highest hit rate on the offensive line, at least that is the way things appear to be trending in today's NFL. It looks like Payton is well aware of that and has been for quite some time.

Another conclusion to be drawn is that it shouldn't be surprising if the Denver Broncos do go into the season without many proven commodities behind the starters on the offensive line. They might not be as inclined to go after guys with a bunch of starts under their belts like we saw from the Broncos last year, bringing in Cam Fleming and Billy Turner.

It's also probably safe to say that the preference at this point for Payton to keep eight guys on that offensive line with maybe a couple of players who are tackles only, but then interior linemen who can float around as needed. You look at someone like Cesar Ruiz, for instance, drafted as a center but then moving to right guard. Don't be shocked to see the interior guys asked to be able to play at least two positions, if not three.

Perhaps one of the most important things to note about Payton is that over the last 10 years, it seems like he values continuity above almost everything else. Of course, every leader of every NFL team would love to be able to have continuity year over year if possible, but it seems like he and the Saints were willing to make necessary sacrifices to get that done as far as what they did with the rest of the roster.