Thomas Valentine of Pro Football Focus recently ranked the top 32 guards in the NFL, and he has Denver Broncos offensive lineman Quinn Meinerz ranked fifth overall.
Lately, there have been some interesting rankings about Denver in the offseason, from head coach Sean Payton getting ranked 16th on Touchdown Wire’s top head coach list to the Broncos’ roster being ranked dead last by PFF.
However, PFF’s naming of Meinerz as a top-five guard in the league should give Broncos Country some relief that a high-performing offensive lineman can be trusted to protect Bo Nix, Jarrett Stidham or Zach Wilson.
“Meinerz played in all 17 regular-season games for the first time in 2023 on his way to an 83.7 PFF overall grade, the third-best mark among guards,” Valentine wrote on PFF. “The third-year pro has improved his overall grade for the past two seasons and has quietly taken his place as one of the better guards in the NFL.
“His 3.8% pressure rate allowed was the 14th lowest in the NFL, and his 88.7 run-blocking grade ranked second. Meinerz is showing he can dominate in both run-blocking and pass-protecting assignments — no easy feat.”
Meinerz will help Payton launch the post-Russell Wilson era in 2024, helping protect either Nix, Stidham or Wilson. Whoever ends up winning the starting QB job can count on solid protection from Meinerz this fall.
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