Should the Broncos resign the versatile offensive lineman?
Quinn Bailey was injured for the the entire 2024 season. He has played 278 offensive snaps during his five seasons in the NFL after starting on the Denver Broncos practice squad. The former undrafted player has started two games in his career, one in 2022 and one in 2023. Most of his snaps came in the 2022 season when he played 162 snaps. He has been used at guard and tackle during his time in Denver as well as being used as the sixth offensive lineman in heavy formations.
The Bills used 6 offensive linemen so often this season that their sixth OL guy played 275 offensive snaps – over 16 per game. The Broncos didn’t use six anywhere close to that, usually having about 3-6 snaps with 6 OL on the field in most games. Matt Peart was our most often used sixth OL guy last season.
Bailey has never been anything above a replacement level guy, but he has been in Denver for five seasons now and so he knows the culture that Sean Payton has been building. He is also familiar with the playbook. Additionally, we have seen growth and improvement from almost all of the offensive line guys under the tutelage of Zach Strief, so it is possible that Bailey in 2025 could be significantly better than the Quin Bailey that we saw in 2023.
Also we need to corner the market on Quinn’s on the OL. Currently there are only two on NFL rosters.
Both Bailey and Peart are free agents, but Bailey should be much cheaper to sign since he has significantly less experience.
Of course Bailey could fairly easily be replaced by a day three draftee, and I, along with the rest of the tackle bros, would love to see that Broncos draft an offensive tackle in ANY round. The Broncos haven’t drafted one since 2017 when we drafted Garett Bolles.
- 2017 – one tackle
- 2018 – no tackles
- 2019 – no tackles
- 2020 – no tackles
- 2021 – no tackles
- 2022 – no tackles
- 2023 – no tackles
- 2024 – no tackles
Don’t come at me with Dalton Risner. He has never played offensive tackle in the NFL, so he is a guard.