In one of those funny twists of football fate, Zach Strief has been Mike McGlinchey and Mike McGlinchey is now Zach Strief.
OK, strictly speaking, that might be overstepping the bounds of the known universe, but if the NFL were actually scripted, the pair would find their respective parts awfully familiar.
If this were a family tree, Denver’s new offensive line coach Strief would be at the end of a pretty darn straight line above the Broncos’ new right tackle McGlinchey.
Strief, you see, spent years and years as a trusted right tackle in a Sean Payton-run offense. Now he’s coaching McGlinchey, the trusted right tackle in a Sean Payton-run offense.
You can understand, then, why the pair has hit it off since Strief arrived here in February and McGlinchey a month later in free agency.
“We haven’t dusted off the video clips of Zach yet, but we have seen some stuff from installs in New Orleans,” McGlinchey told The Post with a laugh Thursday. “I just think it’s so valuable to have a coach who’s been in your shoes and to see the nuances of how to be successful in certain things. We’re all taught the same kind of stuff, but the player’s application of it is really what matters and that’s what turns into successful players. Certainly having the success of a guy that played 12 years in the NFL, won a Super Bowl and I think was an All-Pro at some point (2013), that’s huge.
“I only hope that I can emulate that and get to that position myself here. That’s something Zach’s really keen on helping me with and I think we can do it together.”
Over his decade-plus in New Orleans, Strief started as a reserve, worked his way into a starting role and then ran with it. He started 94 games over six years on quarterback Drew Brees’ front side.
Strief’s run at right tackle in New Orleans began in his age-28 season. Same for McGlinchey here. Blocking for accomplished, undersized quarterbacks? They share that, too.
If McGlinchey approximates Strief’s run of stability, paves the way for Denver running backs and plays, say, 70-plus games over the length of his five-year, $87.5 million contract, that will represent a level of continuity the Broncos have not had up front in recent history. McGlinchey arrives in Denver well aware the team has had a different Week 1 right tackle 10 straight seasons.
He, of course, expects to go well beyond putting that mind-bending stretch to bed.
He plans on being an offensive leader. It only takes a short time around him to understand why his closest friend and former Notre Dame teammate Hunter Bivin calls him “Senator McGlinchey.”
“When he walks in the building, you feel his presence,” quarterback Russell Wilson said Thursday.
He plans on helping a line he thinks can be a strength of the Denver roster.
“Our unit is something to be really excited about,” McGlinchey said. “I think we have a lot of talent and a lot of guys that have played football and have certain experiences, but guys still need to grow and I’m no exception to that.”
He plans on winning a championship.
“That’s the only thing that matters,” McGlinchey said. “We only play this game to win the Super Bowl and have that moment in life that we can always look back and no one can take that away from you. I was close a couple times — went to three (NFC) title games, was seven minutes away from winning one — and that’s the only thing that motivates you to get back.
“This team is capable of that. We have a head coach that’s been there and done that and I think everyone is champing at the bit to turn this franchise around and start winning games.”
Before all that, though, it’s a week into organized team activities and the 6-foot-8, 310-pounder seems to be settling in just fine, thank you very much.
Even with a relatively similar offensive structure — San Francisco coach Kyle Shanahan and Payton each have their roots in the West Coast system — and a seemingly similar plan to rely heavily on the run game, this is still a big change for McGlinchey. The 2018 first-round pick spent the first five years of his career getting a Ph. D in running the dang ball from Shanahan and offensive line coach Chris Foerster, whom he calls, “one of the best in the business.”
“You pull from everything,” McGlinchey said. “It’s kind of like writing a paper, I guess. You have all your cited sources that you’re trying to pull from and use later in your career.”
Any anxiousness about a new start or living up to a big contract seems to have been sweat out during the long lifting and running phase Payton put his team through this offseason. The big right tackle seemed to appreciate that, too.
He made a strikingly simple point: Denver players will go through installs a dozen times between now and the end of the preseason. You can’t get back precious offseason weeks in the weight room this time of year.
“It’s old-school,” McGlinchey said.
His partner during those weeks, naturally, was third-year right guard Quinn Meinerz, who figures to line up next to him Sept. 10 against Las Vegas if all goes smoothly over the next three-plus months.
Picture this: If Lloyd Cushenberry wins the center job and the left side pairing is a healthy Garett Bolles and guard Ben Powers, then Denver’s quintet up front will all be multi-year starters (Meinerz half of 2021 and all of 2022) boasting 266 total games played and 246 starts.
The quarterback likes the sound of that.
“We’re really excited about the offensive line,” he said. “Just the guys we had already, obviously with (Garett) Bolles and him getting back healthy. Obviously we missed him last year, but his ability and what he can do is exciting. You think about ‘Cush’ and what he can do up front, he’s so intelligent. He missed a decent amount of last year, so for him to come back is going to be exciting for us, too, because he’s intelligent and physical. And then, obviously, Big Quinn, he’s a force.”
Central to all of it, of course, will be Strief, who spent two years as an assistant offensive line coach in New Orleans but has his own position group for the first time. He now coaches a pair of tackles each with average annual contract values in the $17 million range plus one of the league’s top-paid guards in Powers.
Payton raves about Strief as one of those, “certain people you get to come across in your lifetime that you just know are achievers,” and calls him “a pretty special person.”
At the least, the Broncos holdovers will likely find a much different approach to coaching than Butch Barry, who was fired after Week 15 along with head coach Nathaniel Hackett last year and landed on his feet under, coincidentally, Shanahan disciple and Miami head coach Mike McDaniel.
“(Strief) understands the position we’re in,” McGlinchey said. “He knows what it’s like to be in third-and-9 in the NFL and have the best rusher across from you and what that feels like. Certainly the mental aspect of understanding and talking through it, it’s not necessarily like an old-school coach who might be like, ‘You’ve got to get this done.’ Well, I understand why you didn’t get it done or what you’re thinking about or struggling with, but here’s how we can do this better.
“Here’s what I’ve used, here’s what I’ve taught, here’s what I’ve pulled from in 12 years and a couple coaching in the room. …
“Being a former player gives you that respect and commands that attention right from the get-go. He’s been there and done that and at the highest level of it.”
Strief’s been there. Now McGlinchey is there now.
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