What Hiring Sean Payton as HC Means for Broncos' O-Line
Soon-to-be Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton has proven over the last two decades. One principle that Payton built his success around was assembling a great offensive line.
During his 15 years with the New Orleans Saints, Payton fielded four top-five run-blocking grades, with three more top-10 seasons on top of that, according to Pro Football Focus. As for pass-blocking, he constructed two top-three units in addition to four more top-10 seasons over that 15-year stretch.
Payton didn't just create great offensive lines; he also rarely let them slip. The Saints only ever fell out of the top-16 highest-graded blocking teams three times in both run and pass. Compare that to the last seven seasons here in Denver, where there have been four instances when the team's pass-blocking has ranked 23rd or worse, while the run-blocking has consistently been only middle of the road.
What will help Russell Wilson most of all is getting good play out of this offensive line. Wilson took too many hits this past year and was banged up for most of the season because of it. Fixing Wilson, first and foremost, starts with him being comfortable in the offense, and that starts with having an O-line that can protect him consistently.
There may be limited resources right now to assemble that offensive line, with no picks in the first two rounds of the upcoming draft. Still, some decent names are available in free agency, including Orlando Brown Jr., Isaiah Wynn, Connor McGovern, Isaac Seumalo, and Mike McGlinchey.
The Broncos are projected to have just $9.2 million in cap space heading into the offseason, but you can expect that number to be much higher once free agency starts because there are several easy-to-cut contracts on the roster that could generate a good chunk for the cap.
Of Denver's current linemen, the only one you can absolutely bet on being back is Quinn Meinerz. Dalton Risner likely won't return, and the right tackles brought in this year 1 Cam Fleming, Billy Turner, and Tom Compton — all signed a one-year deal.
Left tackle Garett Bolles is a potential cut candidate, or he may be brought back on a reworked deal, but he might not be back on his current contract. Finally, Lloyd Cushenberry and Graham Glasgow, after being sidelined due to injury, have a murky future, respectively. However, Glasgow filled in at center and did a fine job, playing better than Cushenberry most of his time filling in.
It's still too early to speculate specifically on what the Broncos' offensive line will look like come Week 1 of the 2023 season. However, this unit will likely look significantly different from last season.
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