The Denver Broncos’ final 90-man training camp roster isn’t yet set, but it’s close. With the draft now come and gone, and with the vast majority of free agency in the books, we now have a fairly good sense of who will be suiting up for the Broncos when practices kick off this summer.
The better question is: Who’ll be suiting up for Denver on September 8, when the the Broncos host the Panthers to open up the 2016 season?
We know Chris Harris and Aqib Talib will be starting at cornerback, and we know Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders will be starting at wideout, but who’ll be starting at inside linebacker and tight end? Who will be the first man off the bench when C.J. Anderson needs a rest?
Who will be quarterback?
Those are the questions that will make this training camp and preseason exceptionally fun to watch. And with that in mind, here are the Denver Broncos’ five most-important offseason position battles:
5. Guard
The Broncos have invested a lot this offseason into fixing an offensive line that almost cost them a chance at the Super Bowl last season, but there’s still a few question marks remaining.
Barring an injury or a surprising turn of events, Russell Okung and Donald Stephenson will be starting at left and right tackle, respectively, come Week 1, and Matt Paradis is expected to retain his starting center job. The guard positions, though, are still a little hazy.
You’d expect Max Garcia to slot into one of the empty spots, but who’ll fill the other one?
A few weeks ago, the rumor was that Ty Sambrailo was going to slide inside from his tackle position, but with the drafting of Connor McGovern, a natural guard, he may no longer need to. Still, it can’t feel great to have your former second-round selection (and starting left tackle) entering his sophomore season as a backup. Will Kubiak and Elway try to force-feed him into the rotation?
Either way, it’s a good problem to have. As we saw last season, an offensive line is nothing without depth. At some point or another, those guys are going to go down, and you need to have someone who can step up. Michael Schofield wasn’t up for the challenge last year; maybe Sambrailo will be this time around.
