Back in 2019, the Broncos thought they'd secured the right tackle position for years to come when they signed JaWuan James from Miami. Not so much: James played in only 3 games that season before getting hurt, opted out of 2020, and will now miss most (probably all) of 2021 after tearing his Achilles.
Denver, in fact, is one of four teams paying three linemen contracts averaging over $10 million a year, but the others (Cleveland, Tampa Bay and Dallas) have gotten much better return on their investments. The Broncos are set at left tackle with Garett Bolles, but Graham Glasgow hasn't been as good, and now James will be a no-show again. Disappointing.
On behalf of this line, it's clearly doing something right. Drew Lock hasn't been a success, but at least he hasn't been getting buried. He's been sacked only 24 times in 18 games the last two seasons. Among quarterbacks to start at least half the time, that's one of the best rates in the league.
| QUARTERBACK SACKS, 2019-2020 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Sk | G | Sk/G |
| Ben Roethlisberger | 15 | 17 | 0.9 |
| Drew Brees | 25 | 23 | 1.1 |
| Drew Lock | 24 | 18 | 1.3 |
| Patrick Mahomes | 39 | 29 | 1.3 |
| Jared Goff | 45 | 31 | 1.5 |
| Tom Brady | 48 | 32 | 1.5 |
| Dak Prescott | 33 | 21 | 1.6 |
| Philip Rivers | 53 | 32 | 1.7 |
| Derek Carr | 55 | 32 | 1.7 |
| Lamar Jackson | 52 | 30 | 1.7 |
| Aaron Rodgers | 56 | 32 | 1.8 |
| Teddy Bridgewater | 43 | 24 | 1.8 |
| Ryan Tannehill | 55 | 28 | 2.0 |
| Josh Allen | 64 | 32 | 2.0 |
| Baker Mayfield | 66 | 32 | 2.1 |
| Jimmy Garoppolo | 47 | 22 | 2.1 |
| Kirk Cousins | 67 | 31 | 2.2 |
| Cam Newton | 37 | 17 | 2.2 |
| Mitchell Trubisky | 56 | 25 | 2.2 |
| Ryan Fitzpatrick | 54 | 24 | 2.3 |
| Matthew Stafford | 56 | 24 | 2.3 |
| Kyler Murray | 75 | 32 | 2.3 |
| Jameis Winston | 49 | 20 | 2.5 |
| Andy Dalton | 61 | 24 | 2.5 |
| Gardner Minshew | 60 | 23 | 2.6 |
| Sam Darnold | 68 | 25 | 2.7 |
| Matt Ryan | 89 | 31 | 2.9 |
| Russell Wilson | 95 | 32 | 3.0 |
| Deshaun Watson | 93 | 31 | 3.0 |
| Dwayne Haskins | 49 | 16 | 3.1 |
| Daniel Jones | 83 | 27 | 3.1 |
| Carson Wentz | 87 | 28 | 3.1 |
| Kyle Allen | 53 | 17 | 3.1 |
Granted, avoiding sacks is about the only area where Lock can be put into the same sentence as Patrick Mahomes, but it's something.
Now Denver will be scrambling to replace James, but at least they can say they're used to it. They just need to figure out a way to get other positive stuff out of Lock on the field, should he happen to be their 2021 starter. If not it will likely be Teddy Bridgewater (and he, at least, has been better than average in this area too).
--Andy Richardson