ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — It all starts up front, in the trenches, or, as Denver Broncos coach Sean Payton likes to say about the offensive line: "It's the one group that permeates your building."
Meaning, if the O-line isn't right, a whole lot can go wrong.
"If you're not really good on the offensive line, you don't know how good you are then on the defensive line," Payton said. "It's the first line of attack, so when that group is playing at a certain level, then very quickly the defensive front has to meet that standard or it's not good.
"So from a football intelligence, it's probably one of the most important position groups. The building, the roster, everything we're doing, it's hard to accomplish when that group is not what it needs to be," Payton said. "It's hard to evaluate the quarterback. It's hard to evaluate the receiver because the quarterback's having trouble. It's hard to evaluate the runner. It's hard to evaluate the coach.
"It's extremely important to get that group right."
The Broncos believe they've gotten it right.
Denver, which opens the season Sunday at home against the Tennessee Titans, is a rarity in today's NFL.
Like the Buffalo Bills, who beat them in the playoffs last season, the Broncos return all five starters on the offensive line, and they also return all their backup O-linemen from 2024.
From left to right, the starters are: tackle Garett Bolles, guard Ben Powers, center Luke Wattenberg, All-Pro guard Quinn Meinerz and tackle Mike McGlinchey.
"It's great," second-year QB Bo Nix said. "It's great for communication, it's great for production. We have a really stout O-line. They're going to do a great job. They've played together for multiple years, so communication's going to be really high, it's going to be comfortable.
"Guys are going to know and understand movements, we'll be able to adjust on the fly with some things and I think it's just good to have a vet O-line that's been together over and over because they've just seen so many looks and they can refer back to maybe even a game from last year ... that they can just adjust to on the fly and we don't necessarily have to have a long dissertation or a long meeting about it. We can just adjust on the fly and we all know what it means."
The importance of that can't be overstated, McGlinchey said.
"Certainly my position group, we've had a lot of continuity," McGlinchey said. "I've very rarely have seen that, and I think that's what we're doing at a lot of different positions groups, not just the offensive line."
The Broncos have a new running back tandem in free agent J.K. Dobbins and rookie RJ Harvey and Nix has a new tight end target in free agent Evan Engram.
"It's great to add some experience but also add some fresh legs from the draft," Nix said.
The Broncos' cohesion in the trenches extends to the defensive side, where the only newcomer on the two-deep depth chart along the front seven is free agent inside linebacker Dre Greenlaw.
Denver is deep at pass rusher after leading the league with a franchise-best 63 sacks last season.
"They're a talented bunch," McGlinchey said. "They're one of the engines of our football team and the way that they played a year ago obviously sets a huge bar of expectation for what's to come this year. All of those guys can handle it. Across the board, I don't know if there's a deeper defensive line unit."
All-round Atwater
The Broncos are tapping into the popularity of Hall of Fame safety Steve Atwater as a team ambassador by introducing the Atwater Grill at Empower Field. Atwater, who was known as "The Smiling Assassin," said his favorite smashed specialty burger was, of course, the Assassin Burger.
"It has some jalapeños on it and a little bit of kick. But not too much kick, because I can't eat it too spicy," Atwater said.
Notes: Payton declined to comment on Greenlaw, who worked on a side field Wednesday. He wouldn't say whether Greenlaw had suffered a setback in his recovery from leg injuries that have limited him all offseason. ... The Broncos elected eight captains: Nix, Meinerz, WR Courtland Sutton, K Wil Lutz, CB Patrick Surtain II, DL D.J. Jones, ILB Alex Singleton and S Talanoa Hufanga.
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