DENVER – The No. 1 offensive line in the AFC doesn\u2019t just finish each other\u2019s sentences. Heck no. They finish each other\u2019s plates.<\/p>\n
\u201cShoot, I\u2019ve had the whole line over to my house,\u201d Broncos center Luke Wattenberg told me with a grin.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd we all kind of hang out with each other throughout the offseason. We have O-line dinners every week during the season.\u201d<\/p>\n
They\u2019ll huddle up and usually watch Thursday Night Football. If Wattenberg isn\u2019t playing in the game and breaking spirits, he\u2019s sitting with his linemates, breaking bread.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s (sometimes) at some people\u2019s house,\u201d the 27-year-old blocker continued. \u201c(Or at) Ocean Prime, at some steakhouses every once in a while. So, it\u2019s fun.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWho gets to pick the spot?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe usually go through (a rotation),\u201d Wattenberg replied. \u201cOne of us pays each week.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd we bond a lot. I mean, all we do is sit there and talk.\u201d<\/p>\n
Oh, it showed, brother. It showed.<\/p>\n
The Broncos\u2019 full squad reports for training camp on Tuesday, marking the unofficial end of a Front Range summer and the official start of hopes anew.<\/p>\n
Denver\u2019s postseason drought is dead. Bo Nix has the cool of a franchise quarterback and the swagger of a star. There\u2019s a proven weapon at tight end. There\u2019s depth in the running back room.<\/p>\n
One of the league\u2019s top defenses somehow got faster, stronger and deeper in the spring. On paper, the 2025 Broncos have all the ingredients to make a serious Super Bowl run. And the best collection of NFL hog mollies west of Philadelphia is set on cooking up something special.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, we talk about it all the time,\u201d said Wattenberg, who eventually won Lloyd Cushenberry\u2019s old gig and made 13 regular-season starts at center last fall. \u201cYou know, the whole team goes through the O-line. And if we\u2019re not on, then the team\u2019s not on. So, that\u2019s a point (run game coordinator) Zach Strief makes all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Broncos gave up one sack or fewer eight times last fall. No shock: They went 8-0 in those games.<\/p>\n
And talk about a flipped script. During the Russell Wilson era in 2022 and 2023, the Broncos posted only five games in which they surrendered a sack or fewer. Denver went 3-2 in those tilts.<\/p>\n
ESPN\u2019s analytics last fall rated the Broncos\u2019 offensive line tops among NFL units in rush-block win rate and No. 1 in pass-block win rate.<\/p>\n
\u201cHopefully we can just build on last year,\u201d offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi said last month, \u201cand continue to be a dominant (offensive) line.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pro Football Focus handed Wattenberg an 82.0 pass-blocking grade last fall, good for second among all NFL centers. If that\u2019s the \u201cweak link,\u201d so to speak, you\u2019re running out of chain.<\/p>\n
\u201c(Luke) did a really good job coming in in Year 1,\u201d Broncos head coach Sean Payton said recently. \u201cI think you\u2019re going to see an ascension. He\u2019s exceptionally smart. I like his frame. He loves football. So, I think that first year (of) full-time starting is going to benefit him greatly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even in a quarterback-coach league, some eternal truths never change. The best rosters are still built inside-out.<\/p>\n
Without Wattenberg, Quinn Meinerz, Ben Powers, Mike McGlinchey and Garett Bolles, Nix would\u2019ve spent last fall running a mile – and running for his life – in Caleb Williams\u2019 shoes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the most important thing to being comfortable is game experience,\u201d Wattenberg said. \u201cWhich I (didn\u2019t have) a lot of (before 2024) \u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m super grateful for every single game rep that I get. And that\u2019s been a huge, huge help.\u201d<\/p>\n
Actually, Wattenberg is something of an expert when it comes to this whole ingredients thing, too. Turns out the Broncos\u2019 first-team center is a wannabe chef on the side. A baby \u201cThe Bear.\u201d<\/p>\n
The offensive line\u2019s Thursday night dinner rotation last fall included a stop at Chez Luke.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was able to cook for everybody when they came over to my house,\u201d Wattenberg said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019d you make?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cTacos. I did carne asada, carnitas. I did a bunch of Mexican food.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Wattenberg, the chef thing has always been a snap.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just kind of picked it up when I was younger,\u201d he said, \u201cand I haven\u2019t stopped. So, that\u2019s one thing I really do enjoy, is cooking.\u201d<\/p>\n
His QB1 took note.<\/p>\n
Last Christmas, as a gift, Nix bought each of his linemen, including Wattenberg, a Traeger smoker grill. Once you\u2019ve tasted playoff football, the second bite is even sweeter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DENVER – The No. 1 offensive line in the AFC doesn\u2019t just finish each other\u2019s sentences. Heck no.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":226021,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2062],"tags":[265,5445,5443,637,232,231,258,2426,7,636,46166,122,633,634,6,1813,632,635,9,505,638],"class_list":{"0":"post-226020","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-denver-broncos","8":"tag-american-football","9":"tag-american-football-league","10":"tag-american-football-league-teams","11":"tag-american-football-teams","12":"tag-broncos","13":"tag-denver","14":"tag-denver-broncos","15":"tag-denverbroncos","16":"tag-football","17":"tag-gridiron-football-variants","18":"tag-joe-lombardi","19":"tag-national-football-league","20":"tag-national-football-league-seasons","21":"tag-national-football-league-teams","22":"tag-nfl","23":"tag-sean-payton","24":"tag-seasons-in-american-football","25":"tag-seasons-in-american-sport","26":"tag-sports","27":"tag-super-bowl","28":"tag-team-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114894723280602290","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226020","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=226020"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226020\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/226021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=226020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=226020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}