Mile High Report
Alex Forsyth earned the backup center job for the Denver Broncos in 2024. Does he have a shot at becoming a starter for the 2025 season?
A position of strength for the Denver Broncos is their offensive line. It was one of their highest-rated and performing groups last season. All of their five starters, as well as several backup players from 2024 are slated to come back this year. That continuity will be important in order for the team to achieve their goals for their 2025 campaign.
Backup center Alex Forsyth is one of the players fighting for a spot on the final 53-man roster. After being drafted in the seventh round of the 2023 NFL Draft, the former Oregon Duck standout was a practice squad player for his first season in the National Football League. His experience there allowed him to get stronger and absorb Head Coach Sean Payton’s extensive playbook.
His time on the practice squad appeared to serve him well. After a quality performance in training camp and the preseason in ‘24, Forsyth earned the backup spot on last year’s final roster at center behind veteran Luke Wattenberg. For 2025, I would expect that to continue.
Age: 26 | Experience: 2 | School: Oregon | Height: 6’4” | Weight: 303 pounds
Bench Press: 29 reps | Arm Length: 32-3/4” | Vertical Jump: 20.5” | Broad: 7’11”
Luke Wattenberg is the incumbent starter at center for the Broncos. Barring some sort of surprise, I feel Wattenberg is likely to keep that job. When he missed several games last season due to injury, Forsyth was the next man up to replace him.
Active for all seventeen games last season, Forsyth logged four starts and played 292 snaps on offense. He also logged 92 special teams’ snaps. In his limited action, I thought he did a good job when it came to run blocking. That was a strength of his in college and it showed up on last year’s tape. However, he was a clear downgrade in pass protection relative to Wattenberg, who was one of the best in the league in that respect. For his efforts in ‘24, Pro Football Focus gave Forsyth a 65.6 run blocking grade last season and a 58.5 pass blocking grade.
Overall, his experience with the team, knowledge of the playbook, and prior playing experience with quarterback Bo Nix have him poised to at least be a backup for the team. It’s hard to envision a scenario where that isn’t the case. There may be some that would argue that Forsyth has a better shot than I might think trying to earn a starting role. Can he show enough as a pass protector to earn the nod? We’ll just have to wait and see how training camp and the preseason plays out.
The Broncos brought in a handful of interesting developmental prospects on the offensive line as undrafted free agents....
