Denver Broncos Have NFL's Best O-line Led by Multiple All-Pros
The Denver Broncos O-line is the best in the NFL today. That, per nine different publications. Quinn Meinerz and Garett Bolles leads the great group.
The Denver Broncos have the NFL's best O-line.
That, per multiple publications as this 2026 NFL season is about to kick off.
Garett Bolles and Quinn Meinerz are the All-Pros that lead the group of five which has played together for three years.
Denver Broncos Have NFL's Best O-line
Sean Payton knows his Broncos are primed to make a Super Bowl run this year.
He stated last week the ingredients needed to win a Super Bowl are:
- A great defense
- Good quarterback play
- Well-coached team
- Good offensive and defensive lines
Denver definitely checks all those boxes, highlighted by the best offensive line in the league.
When I graded all of the Broncos positional groups, from worst five groups to best, I put the O-line ahead of everyone else, but cornerbacks and the EDGE were close.
And now multiple other outlets are agreeing.
Mike Clay, Pro Football Focus, Yahoo! Sports/BIG LEAD, Warren Sharp, and FTN all believe Denver's offensive line is the best in the NFL heading into 2026.
In fact, Football Insights pulled together 10 different sources and the Denver Broncos O-line was No. 1 in all of them except the USA TODAY, where they were ranked No. 2.
Offensive Line consensus rankings pic.twitter.com/SpidnX2Md5
— Football Insights 📊 (@fball_insights) August 12, 2026
FTN
According to FTN, the line allowed only five sacks on and 129 pressures on 717 pass snaps. Yes, part of the sacks are thanks to Bo Nix's elite negative play rate. But the lack of pressures are saying he's not facing a lot of people in his face, either.
"According to FTN’s Stats and Charting, Denver was sixth among offensive lines in adjusted line yards (4.55) and yards before contact (2.5)."
PFF
Pro Football Focus rankings come with a grain of salt. On one hand, fans love when they give good grades to their team and favorite players. On the other hand, when they don't grade fans' favorites well, PFF doesn't know anything.
So, Broncos fans should love this ranking since it's positive for their team.
"The Broncos return the same five starters from an offensive line that ended 2025 as PFF’s top-ranked unit, and there is no reason for change at the top. Left tackle Garett Bolles earned a 91.0 PFF pass-blocking grade last year, the highest among all offensive tackles, and didn’t allow a single sack across 802 pass-blocking snaps in the regular season. On the other side of the line, right guard Quinn Meinerz was the highest-graded guard in football, with his 91.0 PFF run-blocking grade trailing only Atlanta's Chris Lindstrom among guards."
Per PFF, Bolles is the best pass-blocking tackle in the league and Meinerz is second-best among guards at run blocking. That's pretty, pretty, pretty good.
*It should be noted that PFF also sold this offseason and laid off a huge chunk of their workforce. That sucks.
Yahoo! Sports/BIG LEAD
I found this piece on Yahoo! Sports, but it's just aggregated from The Big Lead newsletter apparently. Anyway, Matt De Lima is high on Denver, just like multiple others.
"Projected starters: LT Garett Bolles, LG Ben Powers, C Luke Wattenberg, RG Quinn Meinerz, RT Mike McGlinchey
Denver runs out the same five starters for a third straight season. Bolles and Meinerz were both first-team All-Pro, the first Broncos linemen to earn that together. The group allowed 23 sacks last season, tied for fewest in the NFL. Wattenberg has missed camp time, and Michael Deiter is out for the year with a thigh injury."
If the Broncos offensive line can stay healthy, they're in a great place. Wattenberg being banged up is a bit of an issue; he missed 4 games in 2024, and 3 games last year including the Divisional Round game vs. Buffalo. Center is crucial since they snap the ball every down to the quarterback and set line calls and more.
Mike Clay
Every year, Mike Clay of ESPN projects every position group for every team. This year, he has the Broncos as the No. 1 offensive line, just like everyone else on this list.
Here's a look at all the position grades:
Warren Sharp
Warren Sharp also gives the Broncos the No. 1 offensive line.
He ranks every team's positional groups like Clay, and says it's the only one in the league that was a consensus 100 (of 100).
"Denver’s offensive line was our only unanimous selection for the top spot at any unit. Left tackle Garett Bolles played a key role, leading all left tackles in pressure rate allowed (2.9%)."
Why Denver's Best in Their Own Words
In this day and age of free agency, where players jump from team to team, having guys play together for years on end is rare.
It's what has made the Broncos so great on the O-line.
From right tackle Mike McGlinchey a week ago:
"We obviously know each other very well. [Zach] Strief has coached us all for a long time now," he explained. "It’s a cool thing that we have [about] the group that we do, like you said, is the continuity to be able to kind of hold each other accountable, to be able to kind of coach each other along through different things and have the relationship and trust that we’ve built. It’s a really cool deal, and every day all we’re trying to do is get better.”
It's not just that these guys have played together for three years, going on four for most of them, and know where each one is going to go or how he's going to block etc. It's that the players are holding one another accountable too! That's incredibly rare and special.
Rich Kurtzman
Quinn Meinerz explained all of the group's great communications with one another here, too:
"So just constantly grinding in our individual period to make sure that those reps are feeling good, ‘Hey, are my hands good here? Hey, was my hat... Did I give you enough help here?’ There’s always constant little feedback here, and I think what’s most fun is how much smaller the communication’s going to get on the line of scrimmage because when an offensive line’s able to communicate so little, there’s a lot less tells for the defense to be able to pick up on.”
The work the Broncos O-line is putting in during the offseason—coupled with years of playing alongside one another—means by the time it's the regular season, they won't have to talk much at the line. That, along with everything else, gives them the upper hand on any defensive line they face.
Advantage, Broncos.
Meinerz also said the continuity of the line means they can get past the base install quicker and into the more detailed parts of the offense.
Sean Payton talked about how strong his line is, too.
"I think the depth and experience in that room, we have the veteran players that have been together," Payton said. "Then with the influx of each year, some real good young players. I think it’s hard to find in free agency, and I think we’ve done a good job even in the later rounds or in [college] free agency.”
Playing winning football takes all 48 active players every Sunday.
But winning in the trenches on both sides of the ball remains as crucial in 2026 as it was in 1926.
Tonight, the Broncos host the Green Bay Packers at Empower Field at Mile High Stadium in Week 2 of the preseason. Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m. MT and can be seen on 9News.
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Rich Kurtzman was born and raised in Denver Colorado and attended Colorado State University in Fort Collins in the aughts. He's been a professional writer since 2011, covering Colorado State football and men's basketball, as well as the Denver Broncos, for many outlets. Current Denver Broncos work can be found on Mile High Sports. Previous credits include CBS Denver and The USA TODAY Sports Media Group.
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