If Ja’Wuan James’ contract — four years, $51 million, $32 million of it guaranteed — still gives you heartburn, chief, chew on this

Joey Bosa off one edge, Melvin Ingram off the other.

J.J. Watt huffing from one side, Jadeveon Clowney puffing from the other.

“Because of guys like (Bradley) Chubb, guys like Khalil Mack, they’re all transitioning to that right-tackle side,” James says with a shrug. “It’s a game where both sides (matter). The game has evolved.”

Welcome to the new NFL reality: If you’re an edge protector in the pocket these days, there’s everywhere to run — and no place left to hide.

Left tackles still draw the draft love and the big bucks. But the way defensive coordinators are loading up on weapons on both sides of the box — the Broncos being a prime example, with Von Miller wreaking havoc off one edge and Bradley Chubb off the other — if a tackle on either side can’t handle a stud speed-rusher, kids, that’s where the traffic’s a-coming.

And coming.

And coming.

“You know, they always say the left tackle is the best offensive lineman you have,” James says. “But it’s really evolved, because they’re putting (defensive) pieces everywhere.

“(They’re) so good, you have to have great guards now. All they’re trying to find is a weakness — honestly, that’s all defenses are trying to find. And if you’ve got guys that are working together up front, then you won’t have a weakness.”

The right tackle slot hasn’t always been a weakness for the Broncos this decade, but it sure as heck hasn’t been what you’d call a strength. Or, for that matter, all that consistent: The franchise hasn’t fielded a starter at right tackle in consecutive opening weekends since 2011-13, when Orlando Franklin held down the fort over three consecutive seasons. The 27-year-old James is expected to be the Broncos’ sixth different No. 1 at the position over the past six seasons.

“He fits what they want to do (as) an offense — move side-to-side, and then can play (the) power (game) whenever you need him to,” Broncos nose tackle Shelby Harris notes. “So having a top-notch right tackle like that, one side of the offensive line is definitely locked up, so no worries over there.”

The Broncos (presumably) went into this past winter with a plan. Step 1a: Lock up the right side, luring James from Miami with the sweetest free-agent contract ever bestowed upon an NFL right tackle — at least until word got out that Oakland handed Trent Brown a 4-year, $66-million deal. Step 1b: Hire Mike Munchak, one of the best offensive line gurus on the planet, to help shore up the kids on the left side.

“You don’t want to bring someone in who can’t do what we need them to do,” Munchak says of James, the 6-foot-6 first-round pick by the Dolphins in 2014. “So he obviously checks all the boxes, really, for any offense. For a guy that long — still 310, in that 300-plus range, (and) athletic, that guy, he fits almost anything. Which is a good thing, so that in every phase of our game, he has a comfort in.

“With him, he’s younger, he’s been healthy for the most part, he’s got a good, healthy body, he’s got a lot of football ahead of him. He’s got a lot of upside where, to me, he’ll continue to get better.”

Which would explain why the Broncos had James on their radar for at least a year — if not longer. In March 2018, general manager John Elway reportedly rang up the Miami front office to inquire about a trade for James, but for naught; Denver instead wound up nabbing tackle Jared Veldheer from Arizona for a sixth-round pick.

“Yeah, I had heard some stuff,” James says of Elway’s ill-fated initial pursuit. “And talking with the Dolphins throughout that time, I did hear some stuff going on with that, there was some interest there, yeah. It was last year, so I try not to think about it, but I’m happy to be here now.”

The family connections are part of the narrative and the legend: James’ wife, Rainey Gaffin, grew up in Thornton and starred for the softball teams at Legacy and, later, at Tennessee, where she first met Ja’Wuan. A homecoming with the in-laws was alluring; the pursuit from Elway, flattering.

The ceiling? Irresistible.

“What helped here was just seeing, honestly, the scheme fit,” James says. “The scheme fit (and) coach Munchak. I’ve played with tons of offensive line coaches; I haven’t had the opportunity to play with one like him before. And just being here now, I feel like he’s helped already, the way he coaches — I feel like the way he’s been able to take stuff from your game and tweak it and then add stuff that’s new to it. It’s not, strictly, ‘You’ve got to do this’ or ‘You’ve strictly got to be this.’ He lets you work on what’s good for you, and he tries to hone in on that. So I feel like that’s helped me a lot.”

For his part, Munchak was stoked to get his mitts on a 312-pound road-grader with a combination of back-pedaling balance and lethal burst in open space. James’ 7.42-second time in the 3-cone drill was sixth among the offensive linemen in his class at the 2014 scouting combine, while his 29-inch vertical leap tied for fifth overall.

“He moves so well,” Munchak says. “I mean, he can run. He can run with linebackers in the second level. You get to the second level, he’s got long arms, so he can (reach) in the run game. He’s practicing every day against Von Miller, so that’s a challenge in itself, every single day. So that’s great work and I think both of them are getting better because of it.”

As a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a blocker, Munchak has practiced plenty of what he preaches. And in today’s market, with today’s defenses, he’d say $51 million could prove to be worth every penny. 2019 PREVIEW Broncos season preview

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The Broncos haven’t had their primary right tackle selected to a Pro Bowl since the AFL-NFL merger of 1970, and the franchise’s last Pro Bowl representative as a pure right tackle was Mike Current in January 1970 at the final AFL All-Star game.

“Honestly, (James) deserved it,” Harris says. “He worked hard, he deserved to get paid like that. That’s how it is. The league rewarded him.”

Mack charging off one corner, Akiem Hicks charging off the other.

Calais Campbell sealing off one side, Yannick Ngakoue sealing off the other.

“I don’t feel any any pressure at all,” James says. “I’m out here to do my job like I’ve done it my whole career, in college, and anything like that. We’re just playing football, man. And doing it at a high level.”