The Broncos will be looking at changes to their coaching and personnel department at the conclusion of the season, according to a recent report. Denver failed to make the postseason for the first time in six seasons and just one year removed from winning the Super Bowl. John Elway will be the one calling the shots on those changes, and now its time to speculate about where those changes might be.

The first place former Broncos offensive lineman Mark Cooper expects Elway to make changes is along the offensive line – a unit that struggled mightily all season long. Cooper joined Gil Whiteley on Monday following Denver’s 33-10 loss to Kansas City, which eliminated them from the postseason.

“Your offensive line coach,” Cooper says will probably be the first to go. “They have to figure out something – because your offensive line should get better throughout the year.”

Clancy Barone has coached the offensive line for the past two seasons and in 2010. He’s been with the organization since 2009, coaching tight ends in 2009 and ’11 to ’14. Over the past two years, Denver saw a significant drop off in 2015 after the departure of Dave Magazu. The Broncos fell from first in the league in 2014, allowing just 17 sacks, to 20th in the league in 2015 (39 allowed) and now sit 24th (40 allowed) with one game remaining in 2016.

One big factor in their regression is the turnover on the offensive line during those years; Denver has changed four of five starters on the line in each of those two seasons. That, coupled with an injury to Peyton Manning in 2015 and an inexperienced quarterback in Trevor Siemian in 2016, could give Elway pause on making a move with Barone. But Cooper saw enough inside the season to believe a change has to be made.

“You should see them doing things [better] that they didn’t do well early,” Cooper said, “and they should be jelling as a group and getting better. And that didn’t happen at all.”

Still, those changes on the line are likely coming, as well. Cooper fully expects Denver will go after a pair of new tackles via the draft and free agency, and that Elway will address depth at other positions on the line.

“There’s a handful of guys that [must] be replaced,” according to Cooper. “Now you have to go look at the draft, find some first-, second-, third-round guys that might come in here and help. And they you have to find free agents that are out there and find ways to bring this whole thing together after you’ve paid these guys pretty decent money.”

Denver tried to address those issues in the offseason with Russell Okung and Donald Stephenson. Okung has been passable, but his contract will balloon to over $11 million next year. Fortunately, Denver can opt out of that deal with a minor cap hit compared to his projected salary. Stephenson, meanwhile, has been graded as the worst player at his position for much of the season, but he’s locked into a deal for another two years at $5 million each, which will cost Denver $3 million in dead money ($2 and $1 million) over the next two years to walk away from.

Listen to the rest of the conversation, including how Gil believes John Elway left money in the bank he could have spent to fix the line, in the podcast below…

https://soundcloud.com/milehighsports/12-26-16-gil-whiskey-kate-and-mark-cooper-expect-the-broncos-to-make-some-coaching-changes

Catch Gil Whiteley every weekday from 11a-12p 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.