Broncos' Quinn Meinerz Earns Top-10 Spot in ESPN Poll of NFL Personnel

The Denver Broncos have one of the NFL's most dominant offensive guards. Quinn Meinerz enters his fifth season at the pinnacle of NFL guards, named a first-team All-Pro in 2024.

Meinerz's name recognition wasn't there to garner a Pro Bowl nod along with that All-Pro selection, but as the Broncos' cache continues to climb in the NFL, he's likely to have many such accolades. Forget the Pro Bowl snub; the NFL certainly knows who he is.

ESPN's Jeremy Fowler has polled NFL executives, coaches, and scouts to form a list of the top 10 players at each position. In this year's poll, Meinerz checked in at No. 8, and here's what one anonymous personnel director said of the Broncos' right guard.

"He's gone from D-III to a top-two-to-three OG," an NFL personnel director told Fowler. "He has learned that he doesn't have to destroy people every play. He's athletic and strong enough that if he plays controlled, the losses will be few and far between."

For what it's worth, Meinerz ranked No. 3 in Pro Football Focus' offensive guard rankings this offseason. It's been fun to watch Meinerz go from an unheralded D-III player out of Wisconsin-Whitewater to being drafted by the Broncos in the third round to being a first-team All-Pro on a playoff team.

As he worked away in relative anonymity on a basement-dwelling time like the Broncos before Sean Payton arrived, garnering individual accolades, for a time, didn't seem like an "attainable goal" for Meinerz.

“I’ve set out on these types of lofty goals going all the way back to rookie year," Meinerz said back in January after being selected to the A.P.'s All-Pro team. "Some days—I wasn’t really convinced that it was an obtainable goal. On an individual perspective, I’m proud of myself. These things don’t happen by accident. Hard work works. I’ve had a really good season and I’m looking to keep getting better.”

Meinerz was thrilled to see his name among the elite team of All-Pros, which he views as a "true" measurement of where players stand.

"When that comes out, that’s the true ranking of where people are at," Meinerz said. "To be named the No. 1 right guard—it’s incredible.

As Meinerz continues to grow and learn, he'll get even better. That's the scary thing. Yes, he has four seasons under his belt, but remember, his last year of college football — D-III though it was — was cancelled because of the pandemic, so he didn't get to ply his wares the way he would have in literally any other calendar year.

Meinerz spent time up in the mountains of Wisconsin, mowing down trees and working on his game. The Senior Bowl and NFL Combine would be crucial for his NFL draft outlook.

The Broncos were suitably impressed, and he was drafted with the No. 98 overall pick. He started nine games as a rookie, but it wasn't until his second year that he became an entrenched starter, and never looked back.

"Meinerz entered a new stratosphere in Year 4, earning All-Pro first-team honors along with a four-year, $72-million extension," Fowler wrote. "He was one of five interior offensive linemen to appear on at least 75% of the ballots."

Meinerz doesn't just win as a run blocker. He dominates in pass protection. There was a reason that only two teams surrendered fewer sacks than the Broncos last year, and that was with a rookie quarterback under center in Bo Nix.

"The numbers bear that out: His 96.6 pass block win rate led all offensive linemen with at least 800 snaps played," Fowler wrote. "Meinerz is emblematic of the Broncos' culture. In 2021, corner Pat Surtain II and Meinerz were two of the first three draft picks of the GM George Paton era in Denver. Both players have been signed to massive extensions already."

Javonte Williams was the Paton draft pick sandwiched between Surtain and Meinerz, and were it not for a brutal multi-ligament knee injury suffered in 2022, he could still be around and playing on a second contract, too.

It's safe to say that the Paton front-office era in Denver got off to a hot start, and the general manager has continued to do well in the draft. Paton might not be the greatest at hiring head coaches (cough, Nathaniel Hackett, cough), but he knows personnel, both on the pro and draft side of things.