With two high-dollar tackles, Broncos need OL flanks to be terrific

Ideally, with great investment comes great results.

In recent years, the Denver Broncos backed up the Brinks truck for their bookend tackles. First, John Elway handed left tackle Garett Bolles a 4-year deal worth up to $68 million during the final weeks of the 2020 season. Then, in March, the Broncos looked to stop the revolving door at right tackle that has been spinning for nearly a decade, signing Mike McGlinchey to a 5-year, $87.5-million deal.

With average annual contract values for $17 million and $17.5 million, respectively, the Broncos are one of just two teams with a left tackle and a right tackle each among the 10 highest-paid players at their position. Atlanta is the other.

Neither has a Pro Bowl appearance to their name. So the question for the tackles is this — will the Broncos get adequate return on their investment?

STARTERS: LT Garett Bolles, RT Mike McGlinchey

In the two years since his second-team All-Pro appearance and contract extension, Bolles hasn’t matched the efficiency with which he played in that breakthrough season. That was the last fork-in-the-road moment the 2017 first-round pick faced, and he responded.

Now, he sits at a similar crossroads, as the Broncos could move on from him in the 2024 offseason and create $16 million of cap space. His recovery from a fractured ankle went well, and during OTAs, he looked unaffected by any lingering issues from the injury that cost him the final 12 games of 2022.

“All the things that go into play in that position, he’s been very impressive,” Broncos coach Sean Payton said. “Then there’s a new offense, terminology and all those things that go along with it, but I’ve been really pleased.”

This is Bolles’ seventh season, and until succumbing last October, he proved to be remarkably durable. The questions over the validity of his selection in 2017 have long since faded. He stabilized the left flank. But the contract the team gave him came with the hopes of building off of his breakthrough. That hasn’t happened … yet.

But he hopes the addition of left guard Ben Powers and the support provided can change that.

“It’s nice to have a dawg in my room,” Bolles said. “This group is special, especially him.”

Garett Bolles likes his new neighbor on the Broncos offensive line, free-agent pickup Ben Powers. "You know, it's nice to have a dawg in my room. This group is special, especially him. I feel like, just knowing where he's at, he's a true vet, he knows what he's going to do. …” pic.twitter.com/9zdcUwZLg8

— Andrew Mason (@MaseDenver) June 8, 2023

As for McGlinchey, “Sky’s the limit for him,” Bolles said, adding, “I feel like we could be the best duo of tackles in the league.”

“It’s my job to be as good as I can be,” McGlinchey said during OTAs. “I hope to bring a lot of the same attitude, same techniques, help everybody along and be able to run the football.”

But beyond those attributes, there’s a number that explains why the Broncos found him to be so essential: 19. That’s how many different starting right tackles the Broncos ran through since moving Orlando Franklin away from the position after the 2013 season.

“Just the last couple years, we’ve gone through so many different right tackles,” Bolles said, “and to have a guy that’s going to be there for the next five years is special.”

But as with Bolles, McGlinchey will have to watch the holding penalties. He had 6 last season and has averaged 5.8 holding calls per 17 games since 2020. That’s near Bolles’ average in the same span of 6.5 holding infractions per 17 games.

Some holding infractions come out of preserving the quarterback. If that is the limit for the Broncos’ offensive tackles, that’s OK … and they could be those bookends the Broncos need.

RESERVES: Cameron Fleming, Quinn Bailey, Isaiah Prince, Christian DiLauro, Demontrey Jacobs, Alex Palczewski

Re-signing Fleming wasn’t the Broncos’ biggest move. And they waited two months into the new league year to do it. But it might be the team’s most logical offseason choice … and possibly one of its most important.

In the past two seasons, Fleming has 19 starts — 14 at right tackle, five at left tackle. No offensive lineman in orange and blue played more snaps than Fleming. His extensive experience, intelligence and versatility are essential, and as he proved last year, if asked to start for much of the year, he can hold his own. With two starting offensive tackles who have missed time to injuries in recent years, the likelihood of Fleming having to start at least a portion of the season is high.

From there, the Broncos have a wide-open battle. Bailey is the most known commodity in Denver, with 14 games played. He has inside-outside versatility, which could help him distinguish himself in a bid for perhaps the final offensive-line spot. Bailey made his first career start in Week 18 last year, working at left guard.

Prince, DiLauro and rookies Demontrey Jacobs and Alex Palczewski round out out the group. Prince started 6 games earlier in his career — 2 for Miami in 2019 and 4 for the Bengals two years later.

Last year, Prince sat out 10 games due to an elbow injury. The Bengals subsequently waived him, but brought him back to their practice squad, from which they activated him for two of their three playoff games. But as a practice-squad member, his contract expired at the close of Cincinnati’s season. The Broncos signed Prince to a reserve-future contract shortly thereafter.

DiLauro played in three games for the Broncos last season after joining the Broncos’ practice squad, then receiving a 53-player roster promotion. He entered the NFL in 2018, and has rarely been able to get settled. He’s been released or waived 12 times, including last season by Washington, three days before Denver signed him.

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