What is the biggest area of concern for the Broncos in 2020?
Aug 27, 2020, 6:28 AM
The Denver Broncos entered the offseason with multiple needs. Two of those biggest needs were offensive line help and rebuilding the secondary. John Elway kind of fixed both, but there’s still a concern on both sides of the ball.
The Broncos lost Chris Harris Jr. to free agency and are replacing him with A.J. Bouye. The question with this acquisition is which Bouye will the Broncos be getting? Bouye struggled during his time in Jacksonville, but was great with Houston. When with the Texans, Bouye was one of the best corners in the game. Denver must hope that they’re getting the elite corner from the Texans.
Another question mark in that secondary is who the second cornerback will be opposite of Bouye. The Broncos have Bryce Callahan, who came over with Vic Fangio from Chicago, but he has yet to play a single snap with Denver. Callahan is coming off injuries with his foot that required surgery. When Callahan was with Fangio in Chicago, he was one of the best-rated slot corners in the game. The only downside on Callahan is that he has yet to play all 16 games in a season.
The ideal situation would be for Callahan to play in the slot when the Denver defense is playing nickel on defense. We still have yet to figure out who could be the No. 2 corner. What about Issac Yiadom?
Yiadom struggled all of last season in Vic Fangio’s scheme, including multiple games in which he was benched during the middle of games.
De’Vante Bausby is another candidate for the Broncos. Bausby shined last season during the preseason and earned himself a spot on the 53-man roster. He continued to shine before getting hurt midseason. Our very own Orlando Franklin has mentioned multiple times on his show with Sandy Clough that he would like to see more Bausby and that he could be the No. 2 corner on this team.
Now let’s talk about the offensive line.
The most important position in sports is quarterback. And it looks like the Broncos have finally found one in Drew Lock. In recent years, we have seen the Broncos offensive line struggle to protect the quarterback, causing multiple injuries and a lack of performance by the Denver gunslingers.
The Broncos are hopeful that left tackle Garett Bolles has learned what holding on offense is, so that he doesn’t lead the league in penalties year after year. Denver has also got to figure out what they will he doing at the center position. Will they go with the rookie Lloyd Cushenberry out of LSU or give the position to experienced center Austin Schlottmann? With under three weeks left until Week 1, Denver has yet to decide who will be snapping the ball to Drew Lock.
The two guard positions should play well this season between Dalton Risner and Graham Glasgow, so there’s not much concern there. The other area of concern is the right tackle position.
Year after year, the Broncos have struggled to find a serviceable right tackle since Orlando Franklin was forced to move on. With Ja’Wuan James opting out of this season, Denver will put all of their eggs on the basket of Elijah Wilkinson or Demar Dotson.
The word out of training camp so far is that Wilkinson looks horrific and Dotson looks stiff. DMac doesn’t think Dotson will last more than half of the season.
Again, these are just two of the major issues on this Broncos roster because of the lack of depth on this team. Will the Broncos be able to slow down the high-powered Chiefs offense or will the Broncos be able to keep their star quarterback healthy and successful? It’s safe to say we won’t know until the season starts.
