Mile High Report
Bringing everybody back on the O-line and D-line ensures even better chemistry and strength in Sean Payton’s third season leading the team.
Mandatory minicamp begins today and that means the next three days will bring into even greater focus the progress of this 2025 squad.
One thing that seems very different from recent years, however, is just how set the starting roster is at this point in the season.
No mystery at quarterback. Halle-freakin-lujah!
The young wideout room should be bussin.
Offensive and defensive lines — both sources of strength for the team in 2024 — remain the same, aka solid.
And added players via free agency and the draft have easily strengthened both sides of the ball.
Not a lot of question marks heading into the summer training schedule and that feels amazing.
This week Pro Football Focus predicted starting rosters for all 32 teams, and its predictions for the Broncos look pretty solid — with two expected rookies making the line-up and several young guys poised to ink their names in starting positions.
What immediately shows up in this prediction is the consistency in the trenches. Both the offensive and defensive line starters are the same players as last season, and they both boast some really strong individuals as well as a group that plays well together.
Garett Bolles and Quinn Meinerz had particularly good seasons on the offensive line protecting Bo Nix, and Zach Allen and John Franklin-Myers showed up big on the defensive line while Nik Bonitto had a standout 2024 campaign at edge.
DJ Jones, who signed a three-year contract extension earlier this spring, noted the “danger” of having all the guys back on defense, plus a couple of “game-changers” added to the roster as free agents from the Niners.
“I think that is a special thing for this organization to bring everyone back,” Jones said, adding that keeping Vance Joseph as defensive coordinator was also part of the successful formula. As for signing Talanoa Hufanga and Dre Greenlaw, Jones added, “you are going to see how special they are.”
That means this experienced group can focus on the details and getting even better.
“Every day that we come out here, we just have to get one percent better every day,” Jones noted, adding that being aggressive is still the No.1 goal of this unit. “Yes sir, 100 percent.”
When it comes to the offensive line, head coach Sean Payton pointed out that literally every measured success for a team begins with the offensive line.
“That group played well last year, and it’s an important group. It’s the one group that permeates your building,” Payton said. “If you’re not really good on the offensive line, you don’t know how good you are then on the defensive line.”
From a football intelligence perspective, Payton noted that every position is impacted by the strength or weakness of its o-line.
“It’s probably one of the most important position groups,” he added. “The building,...
