They were bottom feeders last year when they actually HAD a legitimate LT. Okung might not be great (he's certainly NOT a top 15 LT) but he got $13M a year for a reason. He wasn't nearly as horrible as the fans made out.
Now the Broncos don't have anybody at LT and all the top FA LTs are gone. It's easy to say "they'll find someone" but there's not a hint of a trade at this point according to Mike Klis and other Broncos beat reporters. The draft is coming up and it's looking more and more like Elway will just have to grit his teeth and draft a T at #20.
And that guy will be a rookie. Unless a rookie LT is just a total stud like Ryan Clady was he's going to suck pretty bad his rookie year. And that translates to a ton of sacks and QB pressures. Maybe your QB getting hurt, certainly a lot of turnovers.
We've seen that the last 3 years of course. But, at least Manning always had the presence of mind to self-sack when some defender came streaking past Michael Schofield giving him no chance.
Sure, if the OL is about as bad as last year they might scrape by. The team might win 8 or 9 games. And the Patriots are going to win 12 or 13 and the Broncos will have zero chance of winning the AFC under that scenario.
Unless the Broncos manage to land some kind of blockbuster trade that nobody really expects at this point, it's going to be a LOOOOoong season. Just realism. The Raiders and Chiefs were both 3 games better than the Broncos last year. At best the Broncos are marginally better than they were (Leary is a good upgrade, Peko (both) should be useful additions, and Watson is a nice RT if he's healthy).
But, no veteran LT is a horrible gaping wound on this team that makes it impossible to be very optimistic. If Elway pulls it off I will be the first to cheer.
But, it's not looking good as of now.