In the midst of answering a question about second-year offensive lineman Luke Wattenberg last week, Broncos coach Sean Payton made an interesting comment.
“We feel like we have a really strong, developmental group of offensive linemen,” Payton said. “They’re smart and tough, and they have the traits that we’re looking for.”
Denver’s top offensive line combination through the first 13 games this year had been remarkably healthy this year until Quinn Meinerz missed the second half in Los Angeles due to a heart issue. No NFL team is going to complain about avoiding testing its offensive line depth too much during the season. But it’s also clear the Broncos have put resources into bringing the next wave along behind the scenes.
One key to that: the coaching duo at the front of the room. That’s offensive line coach Zach Strief, the longtime New Orleans right tackle who played his entire career under Payton, and assistant offensive line coach Austin King.
Recently, Strief told The Denver Post this about King, his former college teammate at Northwestern:
“A lot of people here don’t know Austin, but Austin is a full-blown NFL offensive line coach that just hasn’t had that opportunity yet,” Strief said. “He’s incredibly bright. He’s great with the players. Day 1 we kind of told them, there’s not a head and an assistant. We’re the same. They trust him.”
The gist of that sentiment was relayed to Mike McGlinchey, and Denver’s right tackle didn’t even wait for a reporter to finish the question.
“Strief said that to us on our first day,” McGlinchey said. “He said, ‘You don’t have an o-line and an assistant O-line coach. You have two O-line coaches.’ And we’ve treated it as that. Austin’s delivered in every way, for sure.”
Particularly so, perhaps, with center Lloyd Cushenberry. Considering King also manned the middle, first for the Wildcats and then four seasons in the NFL, it’s no surprise the two have formed a tight bond.
“He’s just a different set of eyes on the field and off the field,” Cushenberry told The Post. “When I come off the field, if I have questions about protections or formations, he knows it all. He knows the shifts, the routes. His mind is amazing. It’s been great to work with him.
“Zach played tackle his whole career and he focuses more on that. Coach King is more centers and guards and he knows centers. He knows what I see and what I might be going through within a play. He’s been great to work with.”
King started coaching in the college ranks at Toledo and Syracuse, then became the offensive coordinator at Dayton while now-Denver tight end Adam Trautman was there. He spent 2020 as a quality control coach for the Las Vegas Raiders and 2021 coaching tight ends. Last year he was Chicago’s assistant offensive line coach.
“Brilliant guy. Smart, Northwestern guy,” McGlinchey said. “He’s been coaching a while and he helps Zach in that regard. Zach played at the highest level and did it for a long time. Austin played at the NFL level, too, but has been coaching a lot longer than Zach. So he gets a lot of the schematics, how to build a scheme, how to build a game plan, how to tie all of these things together. Austin’s been great, just like a center would be, helping out the rest of the offensive line.”
That’s a good indication as to why, when Payton talks about the resources that have been poured into the offensive line since he became the coach, he’s not just talking about the big money given to McGlinchey and Ben Powers in free agency.
It seems, too, that Denver feels good about the returns on that investment so far. Wattenberg told The Post last week he’s learned a lot after spending the offseason focused on getting stronger. Earlier this year, Payton said rookie center Alex Forsyth, who is in the midst of a redshirt season, is one of the first into the building to watch film on a daily basis. Quinn Bailey has spent the season as Denver’s jumbo tight end and can play guard or tackle. Other young players include practice squad tackle Demontrey Jacobs — a mountain of a man at 6-foot-6 and 315 pounds whom offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi was excited about during training camp — and guard Will Sherman. They also have undrafted rookie tackle Alex Palczewski on injured reserve, where he’s been since the beginning of the regular season.
“(Forsyth), Luke, ‘Sherm’, all those guys, man,” Cushenberry said. “You should see them in practice. They give our defensive line such great looks. Even ‘Trey Jacobs, he has a bright future. All those guys, man, they’re doing a great job learning, taking in all the information they can and balling out in practice.”
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