The Denver Broncos had the best skill position players in the NFL. By skill position I mean offensive line. OL takes the most skill and consistent execution on the field. You don’t get plays off (on or off the field) and you have to be near perfect on every play. Argue with my if you wish, but you will be wrong.
There is still limited data on the performance of offensive lineman relative to just about every other position in the NFL, but there is more now than there was when I started writing about the Broncos.
There are three main sources:
- Sisdatahub.com – great site with free data, but it’s difficult to scrub the data from the site unless you are good with OCR in Excel
- PFF.com – most of their data is behind their paywall, but there is some that can be viewed. All of their comparative positional tables are behind the paywall
- ESPN – win rates are great, but they only show the top 10 or 20 so there is no way to know about the average and bad players in terms of win rates
PFR has some limited data as well that will be mentioned later.
So let’s start with ESPN win rates.
Our pass rush win rate metric tells us how often a pass rusher is able to beat his block within 2.5 seconds. Likewise, our pass block win rate metric conveys the rate linemen can sustain their blocks for 2.5 seconds or longer.
In run stop win rate, a defender can earn a win by doing any of the following: beating his blocker so he’s in better position to stop the runner; disrupting the pocket or running lane by pushing his blocker backward; containing the runner such that he must adjust his running lane; or recording a tackle within 3 yards of the line of scrimmage. If a defender earns a run stop win, his blocker earns a loss — and vice versa.
The Bronco OL had two tackles and on the pass block win rate (PBWR) leaderboard and two guards on the run block win rate (RBWR) leaderboard. Other teams with both tackles on the PBWR leaderboard were the Rams, Ravens, Bills and Packers. You should note how little difference there is between the best (96% PBWR) and the 20th ranked OT (92%). For example Dion Dawkins was credited with a win on 326 of 340 passing snaps. Meaning he only had 14 snaps during the entire regular season where the pass rusher beat him – or less than one per game. Rasheed Walker, who had about the same number of PB snaps, only had 21 PB snaps where his defender “won”. Those seven snaps are what separated the best pass blocking OT in the NFL and the 11th best – less than one snap per game. This is why I will always contend that the OL is the MOST SKILLED position in football. You have to be near perfect on almost every snap and you don’t get snaps off to rest like every other offensive position beside QB.
Trent Williams, who won the “pass protector of the year”, barely made the board at 20th. Garett Bolles was 9th and Mike McGlinchey was 14th. Neither Bronco OT made the RBWR leaderboard (top 10). Two of the Bronco guards made the IOL run block leaderboard. The Broncos were the only team with two IOL guys on the RBWR top 10.
Quinn Meinerz (7th) and Alex Palczewski (9th) were in the top 10.
From a team perspective, the Bronco OL was 8th in PBWR and 4th in RBWR. The Bears had the best overall combination of pass and run blocking. They were first in PBWR and second in RBWR. Four of the top five OLs in the league in win rate made the divisional round with the only team that didn’t being the Vikings, who were great at RBWR (5th), but terrible at PBWR (23rd).
All four of the teams that are left, had average or better OLs by win rate this season. FWIW the Rams and the Broncos were the only teams with 9 slots filled on the various win rate leaderboards.
Let’s move on to PFF – whose grades I do not trust, but I will present them here anyway.
Of the seven offensive lineman who played significant snaps, all but one improved or stayed the same year over year according to PFF. The lone exception was Alex P. His overall grade went from 63.4 in 2024 to 53.8 in 2025. The guy who made the biggest jump, according to PFF, was Bolles. His 89.3 overall grade was fifth among offensive tackles and he had the highest pass blocking grade at 90.8.
QM, GB and Luke Wattenberg were all in the top portion of their position groups in 2025 in every aspect except QM’s pass blocking, which was still above average.
Now let’s go into the deep data dive with SIS where the stats for every offensive lineman can be sorted and compared.
According to SIS, the pass blocker and run blocker at their position are shown below. No Bronco made the list.
For run blocking this was a combination of lowest blown block percentage and lowest stuff percentage. For pass blocking it was blown block, sack and holding penalty percentage.
By total blown blocks, the Bronco OL had the third fewest with 127, only the Bills and Steelers OLs was better at avoiding blown blocks. The Bronco OL had the 5th fewest blown blocks in the passing game and the 6th fewest blown blocks in the run game.
Notice that six of the top eight made the playoffs, but so did the two worst OLs in terms of blown blocks. The Texans had far and away the worst run blocking OL while the Cardinals had the worst pass blocking OL and it wasn’t close.
According to SIS and PFR, the Bronco OL had the best combination of sack percentage and pressure percentage allowed. The Bronco OL was the only OL to be blamed for fewer than 10 sacks. The pressures allowed once LW went out with injury caused the Bronco OL to fall out of the top 5 in pressure rate allowed, but I still rank them as the best pass blocking OL in the league when you look at the totality of all stats that can be gleaned from around the web on team OL play.
Here are all the SIS stats for the Bronco OL guys.
The Broncos were in the green in terms of team run blocking. The Rams, Bears, and Patriots were also in the top 10 according to SIS in terms of team run blocking. The Raider OL was the worst in the league at getting stuffed.
Intelligent teams invest in the OL on offense – you know, the skill positions. Stupid teams go for the flashy positions like RB, and WR on offense both in the draft and in free agency.
The Broncos have the luxury of having drafted and retained three elite offensive line guys in GB, LW and QM. The team also went out and brought in MM and BP as free agents. They also signed Alex P. and FC as undrafted free agents. Both signings look really good right now.
Regardless of what happens in the AFCC, the Broncos have one of the best, if not the best offensive line in the NFL now and for the foreseeable future.
