Paton: Broncos Expect RT Ja'Wuan James to Start, 'Play Well' in 2021

Equally as important as who's quarterbacking the Denver Broncos is who's protecting said quarterback. As the team's surely learned in recent years, it won't matter what name is under center next season — be it Drew Lock, Trey Lance, or Teddy Bridgewater — if he's continually distressed.

The missing link in 2020 was right tackle Ja'Wuan James, who opted out due to concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic. His absence led to Eli Wilkinson's disastrous starting reign, forcing Denver to duct-tape the gaping hole with street pickup Demar Dotson, who fared significantly better.

But Dotson is gone, banished to the open market. Wilkinson, too, having landed a free-agent deal from the Chicago Bears.

James is the last man standing, and he's cemented atop the depth chart. The missing link is the weakest link, tenuously shouldering the pressure-filled responsibility now foisted upon him.

“He’s been here, and he’s been working out. He looks great and the expectation is he starts at right tackle and he plays well," Broncos general manager George Paton declared amid his pre-Draft press conference Thursday.

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James was supposed to represent the long-term bookend to left tackle Garett Bolles. Such was the intention in handing the former Dolphins first-round pick a four-year, $51 million free-agent contract in March 2019. Emphasis on "supposed to."

He lasted just 63 snaps — making $202,380 per snap — and three games on the field before a series of knee injuries torpedoed his Broncos inauguration. James received criticism from the fan base who felt he could have played, but chose not to, at various points across the 2019 campaign.

Another proverbial shoe dropped last August when James announced his year-long hiatus as the coronavirus exploded throughout the country. It was well within his right to defect, but the decision did little to dispel outward vitriol nor improve his in-house standing.

“I’ve talked to him now and then. He knows what he has to do to get back into the room, and he knows what he has to do to earn our trust back," Bolles told reporters in January. "At the same time, we’re going to open our arms and love him and take care of him. He has a lot of work to do to get where he needs to be, and I know he’ll do that.”

Despite James failing to provide anything resembling a return on the organization's massive investment, the Broncos are contractually bound until at least 2022. They faced a salary cap-killing $19 million dead money release charge this offseason and don't currently have an adequate replacement on the 90-man squad. (Sorry, Calvin Anderson.)

With little more than thoughts and prayers in his corner, James will enter Week 1 flanked by Bolles, left guard Dalton Risner, center Lloyd Cushenberry and right guard Graham Glasgow.

Likely unfettered.

“I like our offensive line," Paton affirmed Thursday. "We probably need a little more depth. I like the draft and I like the draft at guard and tackle. I think you could get a good offensive lineman in the first three rounds and maybe even 4-6. I think our offensive line—if you had to rank them in the league, they are in the top third. We just need to add depth and we need to add competition. I think we’ll do that.”

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