Denver Broncos MUST DECIDE Ben Powers' Future Or Pursue Cost Effective Options

with NFL free A&C hitting next week.

The Debra Broncos might have a tough decision

with Ben Powers that could come here very shortly.

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What's up Broncos country?

I'm Cody Rourke.

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Today's bonus episode show.

We're talking about Ben Powers as NFL free A&C approaches.

Will he stay?

Will he go?

Will the Broncos embrace the youth movement?

We'll talk about how the Broncos might be nearing

their decision here on Ben Powers

and why that could be coming sooner rather than later,

especially with the cost of that end.

Whether or not Denver will look at the cost effective approach

at left guard considering they've paid Garrett Bulls,

Luke Wattenberg, Quinn Miners,

and Mike McGlinchee's cap hit being where it is

could cost effective be the way here's the Broncos

look to maximize all things for their offense

and why that cost effective approach

could be Alex Poucheski.

So let's get into this here.

I've seen with NFL free A&C beginning on March 11th,

ideally as the Broncos go into that day

and if they want to be aggressive like they say they do,

they're gonna have to make some changes between now

and then we're talking about restructures.

We're talking about potential roster cuts, so to speak.

So what do the Broncos do here?

When it comes to Ben Powers, who in my opinion

last year at left guard, he ended up becoming

a very valuable asset to the offense

and specifically the Broncos run game.

And as many shows as we have done here

talking about how frustrating the Broncos inconsistency

in the run game is that didn't have as much to do

with the offensive line more so than I think it did

with play calling, flow of game development

based on how the defense was playing.

But let's look at the first five weeks of the season here

for Denver, specifically one thing you saw on film

when it came to Ben Powers and the Philadelphia Eagles game

was a great example.

You look back as well as the Monday night football game

the week prior against the Cincinnati Bengals,

the Broncos, they love pulling Ben Powers from left to right

to be able to create open holes there for their running back.

And that's where JK Dobbins and his patients

as a runner really came into play here.

You saw that in Monday night football,

you saw that in week five and unfortunately after week five

he suffered that bicep injury he had surgery on that

and he missed a large portion of the season

didn't return till probably mid December just a few weeks

before the Broncos had their playoff run against the Buffalo

Bills and for Ben Powers, the reason why the Broncos

are facing this decision right now,

as it stands here today on Tuesday,

he's going to cost 18.1 million dollars

towards the salary cap next season

which is the third highest on the team right now

and he's on the last year of his deal, right?

If there were two or three more years remaining on his deal

we would be talking about a simple restructure

and in theory the Broncos could restructure this deal here

but it doesn't seem like the likely path that they take.

Now things could change but the Broncos,

if they maybe want to go with the cost effective approach

here at left guard, let's look at the big picture here.

Luke Wattenberg just got into a four year extension.

If they view him as the center and they don't view him

as a guy they want to kick to left guard, okay, that makes sense.

But the Broncos at this point could either extend Ben Powers

which in my opinion you want to keep continuity,

I think you do that, he's a proven guy, he's a vet,

get him to that second contract,

he has been durable minus the bicep injury

which was something that was beyond his control there

but he has been a durable lineman for you.

So I think that kind of plays into the favor

of what you want to do here.

However this is all aimed at maybe the Broncos

making a decision.

Now the Broncos cap space right now is around 20.9 million

according to spot track, you get different models

from things like over the cap as well.

If they were to release him so to speak

and not do a post June 1st designation

that would free up space.

That would jump them to about 28.4 million dollars in cap space.

They would incur a dead cap hit of 9.7 million dollars, right?

Obviously they want to pee away from the dead money narrative

because they just came off the Russell Wilson dead cap.

You don't want to add 9.7 to that.

You want to be as in the green as possible in that category.

So I can see that.

But I talk about his value there as an offensive lineman

and what it meant to Denver's run game early on.

And certainly I think the loss of JK Dobbins,

the rotation so to speak of what we saw

with Ben Powers and Alex Pouchesky

when Powers initially returned from his injury.

You know, it messed with the continuity

on the offensive line a little bit.

Dobbins injury impacted things where RJ Harvey

had a little bit more of a workload on there.

I do feel like though, Jolimic Loflin had several big runs

against the chiefs.

I liked what we saw from him.

I liked some of the stuff we saw in space from RJ Harvey.

And that was when Ben Powers got a little bit more run

back into the starting lineup.

And then obviously in the playoffs, Denver's got to find a way

to run the ball more.

And if you want to go younger, I understand that.

Does that mean that you're going to lead to more run game success?

It doesn't necessarily guarantee that.

And that's where the dilemma is here, Broncos country.

So the ideal option I think from my perspective would be

extend Ben Powers.

Give them a two to three year contract extension

that lowers the cap paid obviously for you.

Keeps your offensive line continuity intact.

But if they release him, as I mentioned,

it frees up around $7 to $8 million in cash base, $9.7 million

in dead cap.

But let's talk about cost effective approach.

That's what we're going to dive into here next on Lockdown

Broncos, including my outspout Chesky

might be the best option for that.

You're going to get that here in today's episode of the show.

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Alex Poucheski might be the Bronco's best cost effective approach

when it comes to addressing left guard.

If in fact, they do move on from Ben Powers here,

let's talk about what that looks like.

But first off, Alex Poucheski is the time

that we're sitting down.

We're talking about this.

Alex Poucheski is, in fact,

a restricted free agent here for the Broncos.

I would expect them to place a tender on Poucheski

because of what he's proven since coming in the NFL.

Obviously, when he signed as Nundrat,

the rookie for agent, they gave him one of the larger signing bonuses.

He's got so much experience in terms of playing games

at the college level where he's near Bonix

in that category of college games played,

but also think the most college starts

by an offensive tackle in NCAA history,

something along those lines.

So he goes through his rookie season in the NFL

and doesn't see much playing time with Denver, right?

He spent a majority of the year on injured reserve,

even though he necessarily wasn't injured.

He suffered an injury in the preseason,

but in 2024, we saw him play a little bit more.

Have some roles here and then where he has to fill in,

especially after Mike McGlinch,

he went down with an ankle injury

and they missed him for some time, four weeks on IR.

He did a really good job.

He held his own against some really good pass horses

as a right tackle.

Sean Peyton classified him specifically as,

he's a right side guy only.

That changed in 2025 after Ben Powers injury.

Now it wasn't necessarily Poucheski being the first man up

after the injury there to Ben Powers.

It was Matt Parrot.

Matt Parrot in his first game suffered an injury

that ended his season against the New York Jets

and then it forced the Broncos

with their offensive line depth as is

to move Poucheski from a right side player

to having to play left guard.

And I would say he impressed the Broncos coaching staff

in that category.

And if you watch him on film,

there are a lot of things to like about Poucheski

and the growth and the step that he took

having to play a position.

He never even got time at realistically on the left side

during the preseason.

He saw some time at right guard,

but it's just being able to translate that over

to the left side position.

You have all these different rules inside of Zach Street's

blocking scheme here,

which could change this upcoming season for the Broncos.

But Poucheski proved to be more

than serviceable at that point.

Even when Ben Powers was ready,

they were giving a majority of the reps

even though they were rotating to Poucheski.

He is, in my opinion,

if the Broncos want to go cost effective

while you have Vonix on a rookie deal.

And if you want to go out there and free A&C this year

and spend money on running back,

linebacker, tied in, or even wide receiver,

this is the move to make here

where you're going all in with Poucheski

and you're hoping that maybe Nick Garjulo

can be ready to play at some point this season

be a depth option for you here.

And that allows Frank Krum to stay in that tackle eligible role

where he's reporting as eligible.

And obviously we saw him catch a touchdown in the playoffs.

But Poucheski was that guy before Pert Gott injured

and then because of that had to slide over.

And then he ended up losing that spot.

The Frank Krum once Ben Powers came back

because Frank Krum was getting a majority of the reps there

even though Poucho knew what that role was.

In my opinion, I like what I saw

from Poucheski and the sample size

that we saw last season at left guard.

And I think one specific game

granted it was against the Dallas Cowboys defense.

But all Broncos country to go back to that.

I encourage you, please get NFL pro

and go to watch the film where you can see the all 22.

You can see the different angles.

The Dallas Cowboys match up

where we saw RJ Harvey bounce off

for a touchdown off the left side.

Watch Poucheski, look,

Quinn Miner was doing damage

from the right guard spot,

but Poucheski did a really great job

of attacking the double team there initially

working up to the play side linebacker,

getting up to that second level

and then burying a guy deep into the third level

in terms of blocking that sprung RJ Harvey open

for a touchdown.

I think Poucheski's knowledge of this offense,

him having time on task at a position

he previously never played and excelling at it

is a gamble here for Sean Payton,

Davis Webb and the Broncos.

But I also think it's a worthwhile gamble

for them to potentially take a look at.

And then obviously in this year's NFL draft,

if Denver wants to look at that position long-term,

you have the opportunity to draft guys.

Heck and free agency,

if you wanted to sign a veteran late in that third wave

that can come in and be that solidified support depth

or a guy who could potentially compete to start

with Poucheski at this position,

go ahead and do that.

But I'm saying if the Broncos want to make big splashes

elsewhere, they either have to extend Ben Powers,

which is not necessarily on Power's timeline,

both sides have to be in agreement on that.

Maybe this is the way where you go to Poucheski approach

by tendering him and then you go out

and you sign a veteran guy,

you have some competition,

but then you kind of go the cost-effective approach

of addressing that left guard position on your offensive line.

And does that mean that,

hey, just because you take the cost-effective approach,

it means that your offensive line is gonna take a step back?

No, not necessarily.

I mean, it's a gamble and it's a risk

that I think is worthwhile for the Broncos

to at least look at and see what it can do for them.

This doesn't even take you away from going out

as well on the NFL draft and adding guys at this position

where you think a lot of the interior offensive lineman

this year could be a little bit more of a premium position

as the Broncos look to keep this unit as they believe

as they look and George Payton and Sean Payton

have openly said, going back to the NFL combine,

we always have to take a look at our offensive line

and our defensive line.

It always starts in the trenches.

And with obviously Garrett Bulls being at his age,

even though he just got a contract extension,

Mike McGlinchee, him there in the end of his contract

in the next couple of years, you just extended Quinn,

you just extended Luke, okay, you have continuity there,

but you need to address the depth there.

You need to address beyond maybe if these guys go elsewhere

or if someone decides to suddenly retire,

you have to at least have a plan in place

and let a guy maybe build and develop in your system.

Then when that happens, they can step in

and you're not having as much, I would say, turnover,

so to speak.

And you have guys that know the offense,

that know the system that can execute it.

And maybe that transition plan isn't as scary

that I think as we all think about in theory,

like what happens if the Broncos

were to move on from Mike McGlinchee?

What happens if Garrett Bulls or them suddenly

decide to retire?

Although I don't think that's gonna be the case

would Garrett, he's indicated he wants to play

at least another five or seven years.

Maybe he can, but the Broncos,

the smart business move here would be to say,

hey, we need to address really good depth,

but we also maybe need to look at an in-house transition plan

that maybe a couple years down the road,

this guy's gonna be ready to step into this role and play.

Maybe that is already the approach, maybe that's a thought

they have with Poucheski,

and that's just based on conversations

I've had with people looking at what we saw

from Poucheski last season.

This doesn't hurt the Broncos to take a chance

at something like this.

Now, Broncos Country, I wanna hear from you

here on today's episode of the show.

Let me know your thoughts on Alex Poucheski

as a potential cost-effective approach,

or not they should add a veteran,

if they in fact do decide to make a decision

to move on from Ben Powers.

But that will wrap up today's bonus episode

of the show.

Broncos Country, appreciate you for staying locked in

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