Offensive Line Also Underachieving As Denver's Run Game Struggles

Most of the speculation, rumors and - let's be honest - outright guesses as to what, if anything, the Denver Broncos will do to fortify their roster before Tuesday's NFL trade deadline is reached at 2 p.m. MT have centered round the running back position.

Through a combination of age (J.K. Dobbins), injury (R.J. Harvey) and youth (the young but unproven Jonah Coleman) the Broncos have underachieved when attempting to run the ball this season.

The result has been a rushing attack that ranks 23rd in yardage (823) through nine games, 27th in yards per game (91.4), tied for 28th in yards per carry (3.7) and, if you want to really dig deep, tied for fifth in fumbles with 14. That leaves their expected points contributed by the rushing offense at -20.45, which is sixth-worst in the league.

For comparison, the Buffalo Bills lead in expected points contributed by their rushing offense with 32.12. This advanced metric helps evaluate the efficiency and impact of a team's rushing performance on scoring potential by measuring how much each rushing play changes the average amount of points a team is expected to score on a drive after taking into account factors like down, distance-to-gain and field position.

While those numbers don't reflect kindly on Denver's RB group, football is the ultimate team game, so what if the real reason behind the Broncos' gummed-up rushing attack isn't the actual running but the blocking?

At least one outlet thinks that poor offensive line play and tight ends who can't block, coupled with some questionable play-calling, may be the ultimate culprit.

Writing for Denver Broncos On SI after the Broncos' 26-21 defeat of the Carolina Panthers on Sunday, Erick Trickel suggested, "The Broncos have a systemic issue with their blockers, though it isn’t all on the offensive line. The issue is everywhere, from the O-line to the tight ends to the wideouts....[And] it's not just the blocking; this run game is suffering from a convoluted scheme and inconsistent play calls. A single running back won't be a miracle solution."

Against the Panthers, whose run defense ranked in the bottom-third of most traditional metrics against the run entering Sunday's game, Denver ran the ball 27 times and gained 82 yards for an average of just slightly more than 3.0 yards per carry, with the yardage and ypc totals slightly below Denver's per-game average.

The problem, Trickel pointed out, is that center Luke Wattenberg has graded out as the worst run-blocking center in the league so far this season, while the usually reliable guard combination of Quinn Meinerz and Ben Powers has had run-blocking issues when going against larger defensive tackles.

The main red flag here is that Wattenberg, Meinerz, Powers and tackles Mike McGlinchey and Garrett Bolles are all trusted veterans that have not missed a game this season, so any injuries that could have caused lineup uncertainty haven't played a role like they have at this point of the season for so many other teams.

When you throw in the fact that Denver's Evan Engram and Adam Trautman have graded out, according to Trickel, among the league's worst-blocking tight ends so far this season, it may be easier to understand why the running game has misfired.

But will GM George Paton do anything about it in the next 20 or so hours, or would he even want to tinker with an O-line that has been one and the same since McGlinchey joined the unit in 2023 and Wattenberg became a starter in 2024?

The fact is, the Broncos don't have the draft capital to make a huge trade splash, which still makes the long-rumored acquisition of running back Jonathan Taylor from the Indianapolis Colts likely no more than a pie-in-the-sky dream.

But could Denver find an upgrade for the interior offensive line? The biggest O-line name available, the Colts' Pro Bowl guard Quenton Nelson, has already been traded to the Seattle Seahawks (where he is already sidelined with a knee injury).

Guard Landon Dickerson of the Philadelphia Eagles is another name popular in the rumor mill - and the Eagles further gutted their surprisingly 2-7 team on Monday with the trade of star defensive tackle Jordan Davis to the Jacksonville Jaguars - but Dickerson has been on the IR with an ankle injury for most of the season. Jackson Powers-Johnson has fallen out of favor with the Las Vegas Raiders, but would they consummate a trade that would help a division rival?

With the O-line trade pickings looking slim and the Broncos having supposedly been rebuffed in their attempt to acquire the Arizona Cardinals' First Team All-Pro tight end Trey McBride last week, the answer to all of these questions might have to be that offensive line coach Chris Morgan just coaches up his charges and gets the running game back in order.

He has two weeks to do it since Denver is currently on its bye week and won't be back in action until Nov. 22 when they host the Raiders.