A Theory on How Broncos Could View Dalton Risner as Long-Term Left Tackle Post-2021
When the Denver Broncos drafted Dalton Risner in the second round back in 2019, the team made it clear right away he was going to move inside to left guard after playing right tackle in college. It really made sense at the time because Denver didn't have an answer at left guard and it had two tackles in Garett Bolles and Ja'Waun James set to be the starters.
The Broncos drafted Risner with the intention of getting him on the field right away and putting him at left guard was the quickest and easiest way of doing that.
With one year under his belt on the left side at guard, is there any chance the Broncos could view Risner's long-term future as the left tackle starting in 2021? There are a few pieces of evidence that point to that being the case.
A lot of this evidence comes from what Denver did and didn't do during the 2020 offseason and in the NFL Draft. The bread crumbs include not picking up Garett Bolles' fifth-year option, to not adding any kind of long-term tackle piece, and the drafting of two interior offensive linemen.
Could this be the Broncos' plan for Risner? Many offensive linemen have talked about how much easier it is to move from guard to tackle than it is to move from the left to the right side of the line.
With that in mind, could having Risner play left guard be a move simply to learn the technique for the left side to make it all the easier to switch eventually to left tackle? In the video above, I really dig into the evidence and come to a conclusion as to what the future may hold for Risner.
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