Of the many upgraded units on the Denver Broncos, the offensive line may be the most revamped. As it stands now, the line could feature three new starters. First-round pick Garett Bolles has the ability to beat out Ty Sambrailo and Donald Stephenson for the left tackle position, and free agent signings Ronald Leary and Menelik Watson figure to earn starting positions at right guard positions and right tackle, respectively.

Now, one of the weakest units of the 2016 team has a different feel to it, and players are noticing. Safety T.J. Ward joined Eric Goodman and Les Shapiro of Afternoon Drive on Mile High Sports AM 1340 | FM 104.7 to share his experience practicing against the new-look offensive line.

“When you bring in guys like [Ronald] Leary and Menelik [Watson], those guys are huge, strong guys,” Ward said. “You see them lifting in the weight room, they’re moving the house. They’re more physical, you know, you see times when guys are on the running backs and they’re running up knocking linebackers off like, ‘Don’t touch my running back!’ We didn’t see that last year, they didn’t say shit. You love to see that, you love to see offensive linemen defending their players, defending their quarterback.”

Playing against the offense every day, Ward and the rest of the Broncos defense know better than anyone else how the offensive line is progressing. As an outspoken leader of the team, Ward’s intensity has landed him in a few precarious situations already during the team’s OTAs. But Ward certainly sees that as a positive to take away early in the offseason.

“There’s a lot of trash talk going on,” Ward said. “Me and Leary got into it one time; I know Menelik got into it with [somebody]. You love to see that competitiveness, that dog. You want to see someone that’s going to bite back. If you touch my guy I’m going to bite you, that’s what you see from [the offensive line].”

Listen to the full interview with Ward, including his thoughts on the quarterback competition, in the podcast below.

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Catch Afternoon Drive with Goodman and Shapiro every weekday from 4p-6p on Mile High Sports AM 1340 | FM 104.7 or stream live any time for the best local coverage of Colorado sports from Denver’s biggest sports talk lineup.