The Broncos had the second lightest starting offensive line in the NFL last season

In general, the Denver Broncos have focused on lighter athletic OTs recently, although the Broncos still have not drafted an OT since selecting Garett Bolles in the 2017 draft. There are a number of lighter athletic OTs that will be available in the mid-to-late rounds in the draft this year, should the Broncos finally decide to take one. The average weight of the OTs at the combine this year was 317.1, but that was skewed by two guys on the high end – Kadyn Proctor of Alabama (352) and Markel Bell (346).

2026 is in the upper right, in fact if we zoom in on that section, we find that the only years that are not recent in that section are 2004 and 2005. OTs at the combine are getting taller on average than they have been in the past.

The top rated tackle in this draft has short arms, Francis Mauigoa, has arms that are 33 1/4”, but he has other elite traits to make up for it like amazing core strength and quickness. He was so confident in his draft status that he didn’t do any of the drills at the combine. Bell is projected to be a 3rd or 4th round pick, unless there is a run on OTs before that.

The Bronco OL failed to get movement in the loss in the AFCC last season. Partly this was due to lighter offensive linemen who struggle (with the exception of Quinn Meinerz) to get movement in gap scheme runs. Having a beast like Bell to bring in as the 6th OL would be nice, but right now there isn’t much room on the OL. Having a guy like Diego Pounds from Mississippi would also be good since he should be there on day 3. Meinerz is currently our heaviest OL guy and he is listed at 320. Bringing in a 330 or 340 lb beast would be nice, but Sean Payton tends to prefer his OL guys on the lighter side as does Zach Strief. FWIW the Bronco official roster lists both Bolles and Luke Wattenberg as 300 lbs. Alex Palczweski is listed as 314. Mike McGlinchey is listed as 315. That means the average weight of the Bronco starting OL from 2025 was 309.8. The Ravens starting OL averaged 324 last season. The Jets OL averaged 319. The Bills OL averaged 321. The Bengals probably had the heaviest OL in the NFL in 2025 with two 350 lbs OTs (and former Bronco Dalton Risner); they averaged 328 lbs.

The Broncos actually had the second lightest average starting OL in the NFL last season at 309.8 lbs. Only the 49ers at 306.6 were lighter. The Eagles had the heaviest OL in the NFL averaging 329.2. The Bronco starting OL was below average in terms of weight at every starting spot on the OL.

In the past having a lighter (better cardio health) OL has worked well for the Bronco offense. In the 4th quarter the Bronco OL would still be fresh when the opposing defensive linemen were literally sucking oxygen on the sidelines at altitude. This works if you have an effective offense that plans on running to wear down the opposing defense throughout the game AND still score. This tends to backfire if your offense is inefficient (many 3-and-outs).

In general lighter OL guys are quicker and can be better pass blockers because they tend to play more balanced than the 350 lbs monsters who can rely on sheer mass/size to stop pass rushers. Taller OTs also tend to have longer arms.

Matt Peart has some of the longest arms in NFL history for an offensive tackle. They measure at 36 5/8”. There have only been 42 offensive tackles at the NFL combine with arms that measure 35 1/2” or longer 2008-2026. I went back to 2008 because of Ryan Clady, who most Bronco fans remember has really long arms. About half of these long arm tackles have had good to great NFL careers while the other half have either barely made the NFL or didn’t even make a team. These are sorted by recency

Markel Bell is huge man with extremely long arms. Only 12 OTs in the history of the combine have had longer arms, and Matt Peart is one of them. Amarius Mims from the 2024 draft and Dawand Jones from the 2023 draft also both have longer arms.

Peart has had a decent career as a swing tackle and backup OT. His career high in starts was on the 2021 Giants, which was one of the worst OLs in the league that season. Peart has some fatal flaws that keep him from being a starter at the NFL level.

While long arms help, offensive tackles need other things in no particular order – notice that weight is not a critical trait as some of the best in history were lighter, quicker and still strong.

1. Long Arms
2. Elite Core Strength
3. Quick/Strong hands
4. Strong Arms
5. Elite Balance
6. Quick feet
7. Intelligence
8. Explosive lower body power

Guys who are missing one or two of these can be good starters, but guys who are the best of the best have all of these. We’re talking about guys like Tyron Smith, Ryan Clady (prior to injuries), Anthony Munoz, Willie Roaf, Orlando Pace, Joe Thomas, Gary Zimmerman, Jason Peters, and Trent Williams. With the exception of Clady – all of those guys will be in or are in the Hall of Fame.

Thomas has short arms by NFL standards (33.5”), but as I wrote some time ago, you can be an elite OT in the NFL with “short” arms.

The recent long arm guys have mostly been average so far or worse. Amarius Mims and Patrick Paul have found roles as starters in the NFL. Although Paul didn’t earn his starter role until his second NFL season and he played on one of the worst OLs in the league last season (Miami). Dawand Jones has been the swing tackle for the Browns over the last three seasons, but he has consistently been injured – ending each of the last three seasons on the IR.

Jones is one of the largest people ever to play in the NFL. He’s listed at 6-8, 374 lbs. The human body is generally not designed to handle that much mass. Most of the super heavy offensive linemen (350+), have relatively short careers. Daniel Faalele (384 lbs at the combine) has been an exception having played in every game during his four year NFL career. Mehki Becton (364) has also shown that he can mostly stay healthy, but he failed as an OT and has been moved to guard because of his lack of quickness. Trent Brown (355) is the poster boy for recent mammoth OTs.