Broncos’ Revamped Offensive Line Ascends Among NFL’s Best: Analyst

Getty The Broncos' offensive line is expected to be improved in 2023, per an analyst.

The Denver Broncos’ offseason moves to address voids on their offensive line have propelled them into becoming one of the better offensive line groups in the NFL, according to an analyst.

Sharp Football Analysis’ Ryan McCrystal ranked the Broncos’ offensive line as the seventh best in the league, giving the unit an overall score of 75 — just one point ahead of the Dallas Cowboys and two points in front of the Atlanta Falcons and Minnesota Vikings.

McCrystal wrote that allowing quarterback pressures was one of the Broncos’ main issues last season.

“Denver’s offensive line allowed pressure in 2.5 seconds or fewer at the league’s seventh-highest rate last season,” McCrystal wrote in the story published July 13. “Fortunately, they attempted to address that issue with the additions of Mike McGlinchey and Ben Powers. A fully healthy Garrett Bolles at left tackle 一 he played just five games last year 一 will help improve the unit as well.”

From sixth to first, respectively, the Green Bay Packers, Cleveland Browns, Kansas City Chiefs, Baltimore Ravens, Detroit Lions and Philadelphia Eagles were ranked above the Broncos.

New Additions, Returners Expected to Elevate Broncos’ O-Line

The Broncos entered the season having started 19 different starting right tackles in the last nine years. With a clear need for more stability at that position, the team signed former San Francisco 49ers tackle Mike McGlinchey to a five-year, $87.5 million contract in mid-March

Denver also added free agent left guard Ben Powers, who inked a four-year, $52 million deal on March 13.

and Powers have already combined for 95 career starts.

But the Broncos didn’t stop there in terms of their additions. Denver continued to bolster O-line depth through the draft by taking Oregon center Alex Forsyth

Even with the new additions, the Broncos will also get some familiar faces back in the starting lineup. One returner is left tackle Garrett Bolles, as McCrystal alluded to in his rankings. In five games last year, Bolles allowed just one sack before breaking his leg and being ruled out for the season on October 7.

Center Lloyd Cushenberry III is another offensive lineman who missed more than half of the 2022 season due to injury. Cushenberry III suffered a groin injury on October 30 (Week 8) against the Jacksonville Jaguars and remained sidelined until organized team activities began in May. The former LSU Tiger has been the Broncos’ starting center since he was drafted in the third round of the 2020 draft.

Guard Quinn Meinerz, who started 13 games in 2022, is expected to be the team’s starting right guard in 2023.

Which Offensive Linemen Left Denver this Off-Season?

2019 second-round pick Dalton Risner had his Broncos free agency fate determined for him after the team signed Powers. In Denver, Risner started 62 games in four years but remains a free agent despite being available on the market for months.

One of Denver’s most versatile interior linemen, Graham Glasgow, also did not re-sign this offseason. He instead elected to play for the Lions for a second time, agreeing to a one-year deal.

Two swing tackles in Billy Turner and Calvin Anderson also signed elsewhere this offseason. Turner, who had two stints in Denver (2016-2017 and 2022), signed with the New York Jets in May. Anderson, on the other hand, signed with the New England Patriots — the team that initially signed him as an undrafted free agent in 2019 — to a two-year contract.

In 2022, Denver conceded 63 sacks – the most in the NFL. But given the Broncos’ new additions, the team should still be in a good position to better protect quarterback Russell Wilson in his first season under new head coach Sean Payton.