After Peyton Manning left the building, John Elway went about building the Broncos’ offensive line in his image. Unfortunately, that image was from 1987, when a young legend still had the wheels to elude linebackers, safeties, ICBMs and The Devil himself. And usually did.
Drew Lock? Not so much.
Teddy Bridgewater? Uh-uh.
Joe Flacco? LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!
From 2016-20, the Broncos spent six draft picks on blockers. Only two of those six — Garett Bolles at tackle and Lloyd Cushenberry at center — are currently under contract. And the Orange & Blue forecast for left guard and local hero Dalton Risner, who’s about to hit the open market, is partly cloudy with a chance of see-ya-later.
Of those half-dozen picks, none have represented the Broncos in a Pro Bowl. Only one, Bolles, garnered All-Pro status, as a second-team selection in 2020.
The last Broncos lineman to be named first-team All-Pro was guard Louis Vasquez in 2013. The last Pro Bowler was tackle Ryan Clady in 2014. Elway drafted neither.
In other words, we’re closing in on a decade since anybody outside the organization really took the Broncos’ offensive line seriously. Largely because the folks inside the organization stubbornly and shortsightedly shared the sentiment.
“Obviously,” general manager George Paton told reporters at the NFL combine, “we need to upgrade there on the offensive line.”
Obviously. Because as any dentist will cheerily tell you as they’re warming up the drill, neglect comes at a price.
Once the Broncos lost Bolles for the season in Week 5 last fall, the whole Jenga tower came crashing down on Huggy Bear Hackett’s shaven head. Every game after that felt like the very careful stacking of some very shaky wooden blocks as the only thing standing between the defense and a fraying Russell Wilson.
Godspeed, Sean Payton. The Broncos haven’t finished among the NFL’s top 10 in rate of adjusted sacks allowed since PFM retired in 2016, per FootballOutsiders.com. They’ve ranked 25th or lower four different times over that span, though, including 30th in 2022.
The Broncos have given the offensive line lip service, a little bit of Mike Munchak, then lip service again. Only Munchak had any tangible effect.
A pitch-and-catch league demands pitch-and-catch protection. Since 2017, there hasn’t been an AFC championship that didn’t feature at least one offense among the NFL’s top six in adjusted sack rate. Only two of the last 12 offensive lines to appear in the AFC title game ranked lower than 15th in the league in adjusted sack rate — Tennessee in ’19-20 and Cincinnati in ’20-21. The Titans got drubbed in the conference title game by the Chiefs; The Bengals’ pixie dust expired when they ran into Von Miller and Aaron Donald two Super Bowls ago.
Lasting rebuilds start from the foundation, from the studs, from the inside out. While I wouldn’t trust Paton to build me a birdhouse right now, Payton’s track record at refurbishing a franchise’s front line is comparatively stellar.
Over his first five drafts in New Orleans, the new Broncos coach used six picks on linemen, but the hits were huge, as Jahri Evans (fourth round, ’06), Jermon Bushrod (fourth round, ’07) and Carl Nicks (fifth round, ’08) went on to combine for eight first-team All-Pro selections and 18 Pro Bowl berths.
From 2016-21, the Saints finished outside the NFL’s top 12 in adjusted sack rate only once — in 2021, Payton’s final season. New Orleans landed among the top 5 every season from 2016-19.
There’s a blueprint there. As timeless and classic as the Historic Sugar Building.
“Discipline, toughness, football makeup and character,” Peyton noted last month, “are going to be really important for who is a Denver Bronco.”
Someone who gets it. Finally. Success starts up front. And as we’ve learned for six years running, it can end there, too.
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