Should the Broncos offensive line be kept together for 2024?
Jan 23, 2024, 2:10 AM
Metrics indicate that the Broncos offensive line was one of the NFL’s better units up front last season. But with a salary-cap crunch, will the Broncos keep the group together?
STATE OF THE ROSTER: OFFENSIVE LINE
One could argue that the Broncos’ offensive line transformed into one of the strongest areas on the team.
Certainly, good health a massive role. A year after cycling through 10 different starting offensive-line combinations — none of which were the original intended starting quintet — the Broncos had the same starting line for their first 16 games last year. Only an injury to right tackle Mike McGlinchey’s ribs in the Dec. 31 win over the Los Angeles Chargers prevented it from being 17-for-17.
One set of numbers showed just how solid the Broncos offensive line was: win rate.
PASS BLOCK WIN RATE (ESPN ANALYTICS)
RUN BLOCK WIN RATE (ESPN ANALYTICS)
Yet despite the Broncos’ win rate in pass protection and run blocking, Denver finished xxxth in sack rate, 18th in rushing offense and 22nd in average per rushing attempt.
Staying together is what the group wants.
“That’d be great. I feel like we have a great room,” center Lloyd Cushenberry said. “We stayed healthy throughout this whole season, besides this last game, all five of us played [together]. It would be great to continue to build.”
But at the same time, that head-butts against the reality of the Broncos being over the projected 2024 salary cap — and with a potential massive deal for rising right guard Quinn Meinerz looming in advance of the 2025 offseason. Left guard Ben Powers and right tackle Mike McGlinchey are among the highest-paid players in the NFL at their positions. So is left tackle Garett Bolles, whose contract has a relatively painless out for the Broncos in the coming months.
“I think it would be huge (to stay together),” McGlinchey said Jan. 8. “As a unit, I thought we played great football for a majority of this season. I think obviously we had some tough moments — like everybody does in an NFL season. But I love our group and I loved going to work with those guys from the moment we got here in April. The character of the men in our room is awesome. The quality of the guys is so awesome. And I believe the players are world class. So, if we could do that, that would be unbelievable for us.
Should the Broncos keep their O-line intact for 2024?
“I think it would be huge,” RT Mike McGlinchey says. “As a unit, I thought we played great football for a majority of this season. … (But) obviously, this is the modern-day NFL, & things like that don’t always happen.” pic.twitter.com/a1wkn9ppCH
— Andrew Mason (@MaseDenver) January 22, 2024
However …
“Obviously, this is the modern-day NFL, and things like that don’t always happen,” McGlinchey said. “There’s a lot of turnover all the time, which is what makes [the day the season ends] always one of the worst of the year, because you never know what’s going to happen, and you never know who you’re gonna lose. So, you know, as a player, you always want to keep the teammates that you roll with, but obviously, we know things like that don’t happen.”
POSITION-BY-POSITION
Left tackle: It’s all about dollars for Bolles. The Broncos could save $16 million with just $4 million of dead money by cutting or trading him this offseason. Bolles’ pressure rate of one every 20.3 snaps was similar to his 5-game rate of one every 20.7 snaps in 2022, per the data compiled by Pro Football Focus. With just four holding penalties, Bolles enjoyed his finest season in that department since the 2020 campaign that earned him his life-changing contract.
Left guard: Ben Powers is one of the Broncos’ quietest players in terms of public proclamations, but he let his play do the talking through the season. The result was solid; Powers allowed just one pressure per 20.94 pass-rush snaps, per the data compiled by Pro Football Focus.
Center: Cushenberry had easily his best professional season, maturing into a steady anchor of the group. And although his pressure rate increased a bit in the final seven games — to one every 33.13 pass-rush snaps from one every 63.67 snaps in the first 10 contests — he remained well above his work of his first three seasons. But as his rookie contract expires, he appears poised to have options .When asked on Jan. 7 about his future, Cushnenberry was matter-of-fact.
“We’ll just see what happens. Leave it in God’s hands; I’m not really stressed about it,” he said. “Whatever happens, happens.”
Right guard: Meinerz earned third-alternate status on the Pro Bowl roster, and he probably should have gotten more, thanks to the constantly powerful play he displayed. The power-based scheme installed under Sean Payton suited Meinerz better; perhaps no returning Bronco benefitted more from the veteran head coach’s arrival.
Right tackle: First and foremost, McGlinchey stopped the revolving door. He became the 14th different starting right tackle since 2014 — and with reserve Cam Fleming having already had a starting assignment of his own, that meant that only one name joined the lengthy tally. Whether McGlinchey lived up to the massive contract is up for debate; he had the worst pressure rate among the Broncos’ five starting offensive linemen. He knows he needs to do better, as he described his season as “up and down.”
THE BACKUPS
The durability of the Broncos’ starting offensive line left few chances for the Broncos’ reserves. Cam Fleming made a single start, working for McGlinchey at right tackle in the season finale. Quinn Bailey played 76 snaps, mostly as an extra tackle in heavy packages. Luke Wattenberg played 38 snaps — 32 of which came in relief of Meinerz in the Week 14 win over the Los Angeles Chargers.
But it was a a rookie who never got a jersey on a game day who could be the future. As general manager George Paton noted Jan. 9, center Alex Forsyth is seen as a “starter in this league.” When combined with Paton noting the team wouldn’t be active in the first wave of free agency, it seemed to signal that the Oregon product is the Broncos’ potential contingency plan if they let Cushenberry walk.
CONTRACTUALLY SPEAKING
GARETT BOLLES: Under contract through 2024.
While Bolles signed a four-year contract late in the 2020 season, effectively he has a three-year deal because the Broncos can save $16 million by moving on from him in this offseason with just $4 million of dead money. He turns 32 in May but remains durable; he played all 17 games last season and has played at least 14 games in each of his seven NFL campaigns. If the Broncos decline to bring him back, he should find a starting job quickly.
BEN POWERS: Under contract through 2026.
Powers’ cap number increases by $10 million this year, to $15.25 million.
LLOYD CUSHENBERRY: Unrestricted free agent.
Among 32 centers with at least 500 snaps last season, Cushenberry ranked ninth in overall offensive grade and fourth in pass-blocking grade per the data compiled by Pro Football Focus. That alone should ensure that he has multiple suitors if the Broncos choose to let him walk.
QUINN MEINERZ: Under contract through 2024.
The Wisconsin-Whitewater product will play the final season of his rookie contract this year. But it would not be a surprise if the Broncos move to re-sign him at some point this year.
MIKE McGLINCHEY: Under contract through 2027.
His cap number increases to $18.5 million this year, but the Broncos could get some relief with a restructure. The Broncos are realistically tied to McGlinchey through at least 2025.
CAM FLEMING: Unrestricted free agent.
The Broncos re-signed him late in the last two years — in July 2021 and May 2022 — and could again wait out the market before bringing him back.
QUINN BAILEY: Restricted free agent.
Bailey played the 2023 season on a one-year, $940,000 deal. If the Broncos tender him at the right-of-first-refusal level, his cap figure would jump to a projected $2.828 million, per OvertheCap.com. It wouldn’t be a surprise if the Broncos chose to non-tender him and subsequently re-sign him at a lower figure — which is a common practice.
LUKE WATTENBERG: Under his rookie contract through 2025.
ALEX FORSYTH: Under his rookie contract through 2026.
ALEX PALCZEWSKI: Under contract through 2025.
The Illinois product receives a year of service time for a season in which all but one week was spent on injured reserve. Palczewski is due to become a restricted free agent after his third season.
WILL SHERMAN: Signed to a reserve-future contract.
DEMONTREY JACOBS: Signed to a reserve-future contract.
