ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- When it comes to repairing the Denver Broncos' offense in the coming weeks and months, coach Vance Joseph has been clear about how the plan will go.

Joseph was adamant he doesn’t have a "system" he wants installed and followed to the letter, but rather that he wants to evaluate, with the team’s coaching staff, the Broncos’ personnel and then figure out what kind of offense the Broncos will have.

“Offensively, you can start with -- we have players, we have two receivers that are All-Pro players and good offensive lineman, we have two young quarterbacks that are both competitive," Joseph said. “It first starts there. Putting the system together that scores more points, that’s important.

"It comes with a confidence. It comes with a swagger of, ‘Hey, I’m going to score 28 points today.' That has to be the standard. That’s what we expect to do. Obviously, that’s a work in progress. Again, building the staff to go score points, but we do have the players in place to do that. That’s encouraging."

In addition, Joseph said he wanted offensive and defensive coordinators that “put players first, schemes second."

At each spot on the offensive line, the Broncos must decide if they have the right player or need someone new. Mark LoMoglio/Icon Sportswire

On offense, the decision between Trevor Siemian and Paxton Lynch at quarterback will certainly drive the narrative outside the walls of the team’s complex. And in the biggest of pictures, it is the biggest decision Joseph and his staff will make.

But the decision that might determine how well the Broncos' offense can recover from a decidedly lackluster 2016 season and grow into something far better will be what the Broncos do with the offensive line. And there are plenty of decisions the Broncos have to make about their personnel there.

“If it doesn’t fit the players, let’s not do it," Joseph said. “My thought there is players first, scheme second."

But just how big a makeover can the Broncos risk or be willing to undertake up front remains to be seen. And at each of the five spots on the line, they will have to decide if they have the right player and whether that player needs to be coached differently and/or better or if they simply need a new guy.

The Broncos are expected to go to work in the offseason with as much as $40 million in cap space and a pile of draft picks -- possibly as many as nine or 10 -- if they decide new players are needed.

Or as executive vice president of football operations/general manager John Elway put it: “We just haven’t been able to get it done [on offense] ... [Joseph has] got a good feel for what he wants offensively, having been on the defensive side. We’ll do everything we can to get that fixed. We’ll get involved in free agency and the draft and see what we can do to help get our football team better."

So, start with the Broncos' starting tackles, Russell Okung and Donald Stephenson. The bottom line is the Broncos tried their 2016 makeover by standing pat on the interior of the line and diving into free agency to sign tackles.

But neither Okung nor Stephenson performed as well as the Broncos had hoped when the team signed them in free agency.

And even as the Broncos wrestle with the idea of replacing both starters at tackle, they’ll start with the fact each contract has the Broncos facing a decision this offseason, especially Okung’s. If the Broncos pay Okung a $1 million option bonus before March 9, they take on another four years of the deal and guarantee Okung $21 million.

And for Stephenson, if he is on the roster on March 13, his base salary for the coming season -- $4 million -- is guaranteed at that time.

Then go inside, where Michael Schofield and Max Garcia were the starters at guard and Matt Paradis at center. All are former Broncos’ draft picks in Elway’s tenure. And with Ty Sambrailo, the Broncos had four former draft picks start games on the offensive line this season.

Paradis, who is having surgery on both hips this offseason -- he just had the first, on his right hip, last week -- might have exited the season as the only given for the 2017 offensive line in terms of play. Multiple hip surgeries, however, make him at least a bit of an injury question mark.

But with the other three -- Garcia, Schofield and Sambrailo -- the Broncos have to ask themselves the tough developmental questions. The ones where the Broncos have to decide whether those players aren’t quite what they hoped when they selected them in the draft or if the new staff, including offensive coordinator Mike McCoy, offensive line coach Jeff Davidson and assistant offensive line coach John Benton, can get more from them.

A team that has used eight draft picks on the offensive line the past six drafts isn’t going to want to part ways with all of them. That’s not a smart developmental strategy, especially if the Broncos are comfortable with how they vetted those players before each of the drafts.

But turnover is coming, and additions and subtractions will be made.

“We’re going to look at it all, look at what we think we can and then we’re going to strive to get everything out of the players we can and put them in position to succeed," Joseph said. "... But in the end, we want points, it’s all about points."