Denver Broncos suffer key loss in opt out with Week 1 vs Titans looming
By Will Lomas
Denver Broncos are now down a starter on the offensive line.
The Tennessee Titans have one of the deepest groups of EDGEs in the NFL and it could be bolstered with the potential addition of Jadeveon Clowney. That should make the news of Ja’Waun James opting out, even more concerning for the Denver Broncos.
Like all of the opt-outs, this is a situation where you can’t fault the player, but it really leaves the team in trouble because someone like the Broncos is now down a starter with 6 weeks to go before they kick off on Monday night.
The good news is that padded practices haven’t started yet, so the Broncos have time to find a new offensive tackle to compete for the starting spot on the right side or they can make the decision to keep what they have.
It also “helps” that the Broncos didn’t get a lot from James last year after signing his big contract, because he missed the majority of the season. Instead, the Broncos played Elijah Wilkinson in his spot.
Broncos RT Ja'Waun James has opted out of the 2020 season.
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) August 3, 2020
A huge hole for Denver to fill along the offensive line.
The problem is, Denver probably thought they were in a really good position at offensive tackle heading into 2020. It looked like they were getting a big-ticket free agent back to start at right tackle and now with James out, you have to rely on Wilkinson again.
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That isn’t terrible, but if left tackle Garrett Bowles has another up and down campaign, there isn’t much you can do about it because the Broncos spent so much time this offseason upgrading their weapons that they didn’t add any depth at tackle.
For me, the question is, which offensive line are the Broncos going to have in 2020. The one that protected Joe Flacco was porous and I know that Flacco is a statue, but they allowed a sack on 9% of his passes last season (4th worst in the NFL).
Comparatively, Lock was only sacked on 3% of his dropbacks which was 2nd best in the NFL for quarterbacks with over 1,000 passing yards.
Denver is now going into the season with a new center and guard as well as a backup right tackle. That is pretty notable for a team that looks like they really want to rely on pushing the ball down the field in 2020.