Year: 2021

Drafted: Round 3, No. 98 overall by the Denver Broncos

First off, Meinerz DID NOT play in the Senior Bowl game in 2021, but I wasn’t going to write this piece without mentioning him. There might have been more dominant individual blocking performances in the Senior Bowl annals, and I’d honestly read a 5,000-word breakdown on that from someone else more qualified (and committed to the effort required for such a Sisyphean undertaking). But few prospects that I’ve witnessed or can recall appeared to help themselves more over the course of the all-star week — even while suffering a significant injury — than Meinerz did.

Prior to the expansion of the transfer portal, the Senior Bowl often acted as a showcase event for the best of the best among small-school prospects. Some stood out; many flamed out. Meinerz, a Division-III guard, had major hurdles to overcome, facing big-name defensive line talent and proving he could do so after missing the entire 2020 college season, wiped out by COVID.

All Meinerz did was dominate from the first snap. Sure, it didn’t hurt that he created quite the stir with his exposed-belly look, not to mention coining the mantra: “Let the belly breathe.” 

But this wasn’t empty hype. Meinerz stepped into game-like conditions for the first time since December 2019 and won far more battles than he lost, often burying defenders and drawing oohs and ahhs from the crowd and the broadcast booth alike.

“This is getting borderline ridiculous what he is doing up front this week,” NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah famously said, watching Meinerz ragdoll offensive linemen in practice like the boulders and logs he tossed as part of his training during the lost season.

Meinerz suffered a broken hand in Thursday’s practice, and he was overruled after protesting to play in the game two days later. But he did enough in three practices to convince the Broncos to use a top-100 pick on a D-III interior lineman who hadn’t played a true game in almost a year and a half.

You can’t tell me that happens without a dominant showing in Mobile. And boy, have the Broncos not regretted that one, as Meinerz has developed into one of the best guards in football.