Tag: Quinn Meinerz

Broncos guard Quinn Meinerz shifting focus toward bigger goals

“At the end of the day, the thing that really matters to me most is postseason football,” Quinn Meinerz said when asked about his goals.

Denver Broncos offensive lineman Quinn Meinerz has emerged as one of the best guards in the NFL, but he was snubbed by Pro Bowl voters last season.

Meinerz was named an alternate but did not end up making the all-star game. After that disappointment in 2023, Meinerz has shifted the focus of his goals to a more important task in 2024: playoffs.

“I definitely have personal goals, but right now it’s about keeping things small and not necessarily focusing on that,” Meinerz said on June 11. “I think I might have focused a little too much on being a Pro Bowl player and almost feeling let down in a sense [last year]. That’s not necessarily where I am focused at anymore.

“I think that is kind of an individual thing that will happen as a byproduct of playing well and being consistent. At the end of the day, the thing that really matters to me most is postseason football.”

Meinerz is right. Pro Bowl rosters are often filled with players from teams with the best records. It’s easy for star players on losing teams to be overlooked because of the club’s record. The Broncos having success as a team overall will draw more attention to their individual stars.

And while earning an all-star nod is obviously a goal for every player, getting the team back to the playoffs is the first and most important task. We’ll see if Meinerz and Co. can break an eight-year playoff drought in 2024. That’s the No. 1 goal of every player in Denver.

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Broncos coach Sean Payton loves having Quinn Meinerz at right guard

“I love that he’s our right guard,” Broncos coach Sean Payton said of Quinn Meinerz.

Denver Broncos interior offensive lineman Quinn Meinerz has quietly emerged as one of the NFL’s best guards over the last three seasons.

Meinerz was recently ranked as the fifth-best guard in the league by Pro Football Focus and, entering a contract year, he’s poised to have a big season in 2024 after impressing new coach Sean Payton in 2023.

“I thought he had a really good year,” Payton said on June 11 when asked about Meinerz’s 2023 campaign. “I remember when he came out [of college], and when a player [went] to the AFC, maybe you lose track a little bit. I thought he played exceptionally well.

“Certainly, he’s a powerful, sticky run blocker. He does a lot of things extremely well. I think he loves it. He loves the process, which is half the battle. So I love that he’s our right guard.”

Meinerz was a Pro Bowl alternate last season. He’ll look to build on that with a Pro Bowl selection in 2024 and perhaps All-Pro recognition as well. The 25-year-old guard is set to get a massive raise on his next contract, and it will be well deserved.

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Broncos center competition will heat up during training camp

“It’s going to be really exciting to see during training camp who is going to take that job,” Quinn Meinerz said of the center competition.

In addition to having three players competing for the starting quarterback job this summer, the Denver Broncos will also have a trio of centers rotating snaps in a competition to anchor the offensive line.

Denver has fifth-year veteran Sam Mustipher, third-year swing guard/center Luke Wattenberg and second-year pro Alex Forsyth competing at center. After losing Lloyd Cushenberry during free agency, the Broncos are set to have a new Week 1 center for the first time since 2020.

The team’s four other starters up front are all returning, including guards Quinn Meinerz and Ben Powers.

“The good news for the center most of the time is that he’s working with one of those two players,” coach Sean Payton said during mandatory minicamp. “There are times where he’s isolated, but certainly the experience of those two players helps a lot.”

Meinerz was diplomatic when asked about the team’s center competing, saying all three centers are great linemen.

“We have three great centers,” Meinerz said. “We’ve been kind of interchanging all three of them. It’s going to be really exciting to see during training camp who is going to take that job. I’ve enjoyed playing with all three of them so far in OTAs.”

Forsyth played with rookie quarterback Bo Nix at Oregon in 2022 so if Nix ends up winning the starting job, that might help Forsyth’s chances. Mustipher is the most experienced option, but he does not have the position flexibility of Wattenberg.

It might be difficult for the Broncos to carry all three centers on the 53-man roster this fall, so the competition could have much more than the starting job at stake. If Mustipher doesn’t win the starting role, for example, he probably won’t be a lock to make the active roster.

Denver is expected to begin training camp on July 26. The center competition will heat up during camp and continue into preseason before the final roster is set in August.

Regardless of who wins the position battles, the Broncos will have a new starting QB and a new starting center in Week 1 after moving on from Russell Wilson and letting Cushenberry walk this spring.

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Projecting how much a Quinn Meinerz extension will cost the Broncos

Broncos guard Quinn Meinerz will likely command $20 million per year on his next contract. Denver should work on an extension this fall.

After Denver Broncos guard Quinn Meinerz wraps up the fourth and final year of his rookie contract this fall, he will have earned $6,839,236, according to an estimate from Spotrac.com.

The signing bonus alone for Meinerz’s next contract could quadruple his career earnings thus far. Looking across the league, the top-earning guards average about $20 million per season. Meinerz’s agent will likely want his client to join that class of guards on his next deal.

The following deals could give an idea of what Meinerz could command as a free agent.

Robert Hunt signed a five-year, $100 million ($20 million/year) deal with the Carolina Panthers this spring that included a $26.5 million signing bonus.

Quenton Nelson has a four-year, $80 million ($20 million/year) deal with the Indianapolis Colts that featured a $31 million signing bonus.

Chris Lindstrom received a five-year, $105.2 million ($20.5 million/year) deal with the Atlanta Falcons that included a $27.5 million signing bonus.

Finally, Landon Dickerson signed a four-year, $84 million contract ($21 million/year) with the Philadelphia Eagles that includes a $19.945 million signing bonus.

Based on those deals, Meinez’s representatives will likely seek a contract worth north of $20 million per season with a signing bonus perhaps in the range of $27-$32 million. If he hits unrestricted free agency and is allowed to negotiate with other teams, Meinerz’s price could increase even more.

So the Broncos would be wise to give Meinerz an extension before he hits the open market. It wouldn’t be surprising to see Denver’s staff attempt to sign Meinerz to an extension during the 2024 season this fall.

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Broncos’ Quinn Meinerz ranked as NFL’s 5th-best guard

PFF ranked Broncos offensive lineman Quinn Meinerz as the fifth-best guard in the NFL going into the 2024 season.

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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Broncos salary cap update going into the summer

The Broncos have about $7.7 million in remaining salary cap space ahead of training camp.

Even with quarterback Russell Wilson accounting for $32 million in “dead money” next year, the Denver Broncos are projected to have about $37 million in salary cap space in 2025. That’s a conservative estimate based on a projection of the NFL’s cap only increasing by $4.6 million.

Wilson’s dead money cap hit is much larger this year ($53 million). Consequently, the Broncos are in a tighter cap pinch this season.

Denver is estimated to have about $7,726,196 in remaining cap space, according to OverTheCap.com. The Broncos will likely want to take most (or all) of that remaining cap into the 2024 season to allow for injured reserve payments and the possibility of in-season additions to the roster.

Denver receiver Courtland Sutton is seeking a raise, but it’s hard to imagine that being a high priority for the Broncos with guard Quinn Meinerz and cornerback Pat Surtain on deck for mega extensions.

Denver can push large cap hits into future years when Meinerz and Surtain eventually get their extensions, but the team probably won’t make any more big additions in 2024 due to the dwindling cap space.

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2 Broncos among highest performance-based pay earners

Broncos G Quinn Meinerz ($747,505) and OLB Jonathon Cooper ($940,000) received some of the largest performance-based pay bonuses in the NFL.

Denver Broncos guard Quinn Meinerz and outside linebacker Jonathon Cooper were among the top 25 earners in 2023 as part of the NFL’s performance-based pay program.

“The Performance-Based Pay program is a collectively bargained benefit that compensates all players based upon their playing time and salary levels,” according to the NFL. Put simply, the program rewards players on low salaries who play significant snaps.

Meinerz and Cooper are still on team-friendly rookie contracts and they both started all 17 games last season. Meinerz received $747,505 in performance-based pay, a nice increase from his $1,095,078 salary last season.

Cooper received $738,916 in performance-based pay, which is not far away from his $940,000 base salary in 2023. The two players were rewarded for essentially outperforming their contracts.

Meinerz and Cooper weren’t the only Broncos players who received performance-based pay for the 2023 season.

The following players also got a boost to their salaries, according to KUSA-TV’s Mike Klis: cornerback Ja’Quan McMillian ($625,000), cornerback Fabian Moreau ($526,000), defensive lineman Jonathan Harris ($485,000), safety Delarrin Turner-Yell ($387,000), cornerback Damarri Mathis ($376,000), tight end Adam Trautman ($368,000), center Lloyd Cushenberry ($357,000), linebacker Drew Sanders ($356), safety P.J. Locke Locke ($343,000), wide receiver Lil’Jordan Humphrey ($342,000) and fullback Mike Burton ($339,000) also received performance-based bonuses.

View the full list of Denver’s bonuses on 9News.

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10 Broncos players who deserve contract extensions

These 10 players are scheduled to become free agents in 2025. The Broncos should consider re-signing them before they hit the open market.

With NFL free agency just over one week away, the Denver Broncos are about $14 million over the salary cap. Denver will need to make some roster moves and restructure a few contracts to get under the cap and create enough room to re-sign some of the team’s key in-house free agents.

Before anything else, the Broncos will worry about their in-house players and then pending free agents from other teams. The bulk of the league’s big signings will happen within the first wave of free agency, then things will then start to slow down.

Denver probably won’t have a lot of cap space to work with, so the team’s signings will be calculated, and perhaps minimal. Once the Broncos have wrapped up the bulk of their 2024 signings, attention will turn to potential extensions for players set to become free agents in 2025.

There’s always something on deck in the NFL.

Here’s a quick look ahead to 10 Denver players scheduled to become free agents in 2025 who deserve contract extensions from the Broncos.

Broncos’ offensive line took a big step forward in 2023

The Broncos’ offensive line was ranked 21st by PFF in 2022. After Sean Payton made several changes, the unit ranked 7th in 2023.

When Sean Payton arrived last offseason, one of his first big tasks was fixing the Denver Broncos’ offensive line.

By the end of the 2022 campaign, the team’s starting offensive line was Cam Fleming, Quinn Bailey, Graham Glasgow, Quinn Meinerz and Billy Turner. Payton quickly made big changes.

Glasgow was cut and Turner walked in free agency. Fleming and Bailey were re-signed as backups. Garett Bolles and Lloyd Cushenberry returned from injuries and Meinerz was the only Week 18 2022 starter assured of keeping his job in 2023.

When free agency opened, Payton immediately gave big contracts to guard Ben Powers and right tackle Mike McGlinchey to give the team a new starting lineup of Bolles, Powers, Cushenberry, Meinerz and McGlinchey.

Pro Football Focus is not infallible, but the website is useful. PFF ranked Denver’s offensive line 21st out of 32 units in 2022. After the 2023 regular season wrapped up, the Broncos’ offensive line was ranked 7th by PFF.

That represents a huge turnaround up front for Denver. Cushenberry is now scheduled to become a free agent, but the Broncos appear confident that 2023 seventh-round pick Alex Forsyth will be prepared to start in 2024.

Cushenberry’s free agent status gives the unit some uncertainty going into the offseason, but a Bolles-Powers-Forsyth-Meinerz-McGlinchey lineup would still be a much better scenario than Denver’s lineup in 2022. There’s always room for improvement, but the Broncos’ offensive line took a step forward in Payton’s first season.

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Here are the Broncos’ biggest Pro Bowl snubs

Broncos WR Courtland Sutton and OG Quinn Meinerz were snubbed by Pro Bowl voters.

The NFL announced its rosters for the 2024 Pro Bowl on Wednesday and the Denver Broncos will be represented by three starters on the AFC team: cornerback Pat Surtain, safety Justin Simmons and returner Marvin Mims.

In addition to those three starters, the Broncos also have a pair of third alternates in guard Quinn Meinerz and fullback Michael Burton. If multiple guards and fullbacks drop out of the flag football game, Meinerz and Burton could be added to the roster in the coming weeks.

So, who are Denver’s biggest Pro Bowl snubs this year? The biggest one is Meinerz, who deserved more than an alternate nod, and the second most notable snub is wide receiver Courtland Sutton.

Sutton did not rank high in receptions or receiving yards this season, but he pulled off some of the best catches of the season and scored 10 touchdowns, tied for third-most in the NFL this year.

Here’s a quick look at all of the Broncos’ Pro Bowl snubs and honorable mentions from the 2023 season.