With training camp, hope springs eternal at Dove Valley for Denver Broncos fans.
New year, new head coach, new quarterback; new team. Can these Broncos finally get back to the playoffs after three postseasons of sitting on the couch?
Along with all those coaching changes — including the addition of offensive line guru Mike Munchak — the Broncos have altered a great deal of their personnel as well. Joe Flacco was a major addition, as was right tackle Ja’Wuan James. But, Denver also lost arguably their most important offensive player from recent years in center Matt Paradis, who left and deservedly got paid the big bucks to play in Carolina with the Panthers.
Paradis’ loss cannot be overstated on an offensive line which was simply atrocious in 2018 and will possibly be even worse this year. If that’s the case, forget Flacco, Phillip Lindsay and Emmanuel Sanders taking over games; the offense will struggle just as it has since 2015.
Last year, Paradis was injured mid-way through a season in which he was the second-best center in the entire NFL according to Pro Football Focus (79.0 overall grade). Paradis missing the last seven games of the season was significant because he didn’t miss a single game from 2015-Week 10 of 2018. That left Connor McGovern, the right guard, to fill in at center.
And, the results were alarming.
McGovern — who was only playing pedestrian football at right guard (58.3 overall grade, 64th-best guard) — was even worse at center. Outside of a phenomenal game against the Chargers in Week 11, McGovern was graded at 52.6 or below in 5-of-8 games at center. He also allowed 20 pressures, two quarterback hits and one sack during that seven-game tenure in the middle.
Now, with Paradis gone and the Broncos thin along the offensive line, McGovern has been tasked with taking over center full-time.
“I think naturally it’s more what my body is built for. It’s the position I feel more comfortable at, so I’m excited about it and I think it’s going well,” McGovern said on the first day of this 2019 training camp. “Joe [Flacco] and I are really developing a good relationship and working together well, so I’m excited.”
But, what’s progressed over the last week has been a number of missed snaps, which aren’t all on the center, but that is one of the position’s chief responsibilities.
“I’ve noticed it. There are too many [missed snaps] right now and obviously that’s something that’s got to get cleaned up,” Fangio said on July 25. “This hasn’t all been the center’s fault, but you’re right. It’s the most basic fundamental there is. If we can’t get that, it doesn’t matter what play we called, so that obviously that has to get perfect soon.”
Yesterday brought on another practice, and yet more missed snaps.
“You hit it. We have to keep practicing because we can have nine other offensive players on offense having the best down of their life. If we can’t get the snap, it’s wasted,” Fangio explained on Friday. “That’s both the snap and the quarterback. Sometimes it’s the quarterback too. I thought it was a little better today in comparison to yesterday where we had kind of an epidemic of them yesterday. Today we kind of had a few of them. We can’t have any.”
Regardless if new offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello calls the perfect play to beat a defense, if the Broncos can’t get the pigskin snapped with consistency, it’s a literal non-starter for the entire 11 men on that side of the ball.
And it’s not just the missed snaps, there have also been a number of pre-snap penalties so far through camp, although Fangio said he’s not too concerned about them at this point in the season. “Talk to me in a couple weeks and see,” he said.
Simply, McGovern is going to be a focal point of the offensive line all year long. As the center, he not only has to snap the ball every play, he also needs to communicate blocking assignments and then pick up his blocks. But, he’s far from the only question mark.
Left tackle Garett Bolles has not lived up to his 2017 first-round pick billing, earning a 70.9 overall grade (34th-best tackle) last year while being called for 13 penalties and allowing two sacks. Nearly averaging a penalty a game is far too much for any team’s left tackle, and he allowed 29 total pressures last year as well.
To the right of Bolles is rookie Dalton Risner out of Wiggins, Colorado. Can Risner step in and be a starting left guard immediately in between Bolles and McGovern? Only time will tell but there’s certain to be some missteps along the way this year.
At right guard, Ronald Leary returns from a torn achilles tendon, and he’s likely the best offensive lineman on the team. However, before his injury Leary was struggling last year, too, so the Broncos will need a resurgence from him as well.
And at right tackle is the aforementioned James, coming over from Miami and signing a massive contract. James was the 34th-best tackle last season per PFF (70.9), tied with Bolles, which doesn’t elicit excitement considering Bolles’ play. James allowed 26 pressures with seven sacks and seven penalties in 2018; he must improve this year as well.
So, all the Broncos need is a right guard playing center to have his best year ever, a rookie to step in and play lights-out immediately, and the other three to enjoy better seasons than last year, too. That’s all.
Luckily, the Broncos did hire Mike Munchak, the O-line whisperer. If anyone can get this line playing better, it’s him.
“I’ll just let you guys know that it’s going to make this offensive line great and I think we’re on track to be great,” McGovern said of what he’s learned from Munchak and Chris Kuper. “It’s early. Every other team just reported. We’ve gotten a lot of good work in and we’re making leaps and bounds every day.”
If Denver wants to improve on offense and compliment their superstar defenders Von Miller, Chris Harris and others, the offensive line must play much better in 2019.
