Broncos Player Profile: Billy Turner #57 | Offensive Line
One of the Denver Broncos' moves in the offseason was to bring back a familiar face. Billy Turner spent some time with the Broncos not that long ago and then went on to greener pastures, literally, as he signed with Green Bay Packers.
Now Turner is back with the Broncos under part of the coaching staff he had with the Packers. He is in play to start at right tackle but could start at multiple positions.
With Turner back in a Broncos uniform, what are his expectations for 2022? Let's dive into his resume.
Biography
Turner will turn 31 in October. He was born and raised in Minnesota before going to North Dakota for college.
College Career
During his four years at North Dakota State, Turner started 56 games, with at least 11 each season. He started all 15 games at left tackle in his final year, allowed zero sacks, and helped the team go 15-0.
Outside his first year, the team went 43-2 and won three consecutive FCS Championships. That first year, NDSU went 9-5 and made their way to the FCS Quarterfinals, despite no one expecting them to make the playoffs.
As Turner got ready for the 2014 NFL draft, he was a two-time FCS All-American and rated as one of the best small-school prospects in the draft. He was also viewed as one of the best tackle prospects overall.
Draft
Turner started his journey to the NFL with an invite to the 2014 Senior Bowl. After that, he was invited to the NFL Scouting Combine, where he tested out decently well. He had a relative athletic score of 7.18 as an offensive tackle while 8.06 as a guard.
Turner ended up hearing his name called with the 67th overall pick in the draft (third round) by the Miami Dolphins.
Professional Career
Turner only played 17 snaps on offense as a rookie but started 12 games in 2016, playing 771 snaps, all at right guard. He allowed 25 pressures, with eight of them being sacks. It was an extremely rough season as his run-blocking grade was 48.8 from Pro Football Focus to go along with the eight sacks he relinquished in pass protection.
Turner was in hot water entering Year 3, and after stepping in for an injury and starting two games (97 total snaps), the Dolphins waived him. On those 97 snaps, he allowed 13 pressures and five sacks as he started at left guard and left tackle, with seven snaps at right tackle.
Over his 35 games with the Dolphins, he played at four of the five O-line spots and started games at three. It wasn't easy to settle down at one position when you weren't allowed to. So the Dolphins let him go, and the Broncos picked him up off waivers.
To end the 2016 season with the Broncos, Turner saw action in three games, all at right guard. He played 41 total snaps over those three games, allowed no pressures or sacks, and played well overall.
For 2017, Turner took the field for an injury for one game, playing 46 snaps as the right tackle against the New York Giants in Week 6. He allowed a sack with four total pressures.
Things were not looking good for Turner entering the 2018 season. He has played 972 snaps with two teams over his first four seasons, allowing 42 total pressures and 13 sacks. His play needed to improve as he was consistently among the worst offensive linemen over that span.
2018 was the biggest and best year of Turner's career so far, which came at an opportune time as it was a contract year. He played 824 snaps on the Broncos' offense while appearing in 15 games, starting 11 of them split between right tackle and left guard. Six of his snaps also came as a sixth lineman in jumbo packages, of which five were all his snaps in two games.
Of his 11 starts, four came at right tackle, and Turner played a total of 370 snaps. During that span, he allowed 11 pressures and three sacks. While playing 448 snaps at left guard, starting seven games, he allowed 16 pressures with zero sacks.
Overall, it was a solid year as PFF graded Turner 64.4 overall and 65.0 in pass-protection, but 59.2 in run-blocking. While his play wasn't great, his versatility continued to be his biggest asset, and saw him get a good deal from the Packers.
Turner was with the Packers over the past three seasons, playing 3,096 snaps, mainly as the right guard or tackle, but did see some snaps at left tackle. These were easily the best three years of his career, which were only average compared to the rest of the NFL.
During that time, Turner allowed 116 pressures and 13 sacks and made it clear that pressures will always be there with Turner as he has consistently had a high rate. His run-blocking grades were between 60-65 each year, and his overall grade even got above 70 (70.5) for the first time in his career in 2020.
In Turner's most recent season, where he played all but 56 of his 866 snaps at right tackle, he was average compared to the rest of the NFL. He was 19th-most (of 44 tackles) in pressures allowed with at least 500 pass-blocking snaps, had the 14th-lowest pass-blocking efficiency, and the 17th-lowest in PFF pass-blocking grade.
As for Turner's run blocking, among the 47 tackles with at least 300 run-blocking snaps, he was the 11th-lowest graded overall, the 10th-lowest grade in zone concepts, and 17th in gap concepts.
2022 Outlook
When Turner was re-signed this past spring, many Broncos fans and analysts jumped to the conclusion that Turner was the answer at right tackle, despite his play being consistently lackluster. His versatility and familiarity help him, but at this point, he is who he is as a player, and that is someone average at best.
When you look at Turner compared to the rest of the NFL, he is in the middle of the pack, if not in the bottom half. That can make things challenging to protect Russell Wilson and gives merit to the questions about Denver's lack of answers at the right tackle position.
Denver has three players fighting for the starting job, all of whom have significant concerns. Tom Compton is an excellent run-blocker but has issues in pass protection, while Calvin Anderson is unknown.
Then there is Turner, who will allow pressure and have his fair share of problems. He is probably the most well-rounded of the three, but the unknown of Anderson is still there.
The fact that Turner is the most well-rounded at the moment is why many view him as the favorite to win the starting right tackle job. However, if he doesn't, he could make a play for a starting job at one of the guard spots, more likely left guard, with Dalton Risner's status up in the air.
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