Denver Broncos: Lloyd Cushenberry has reason to be worried, yet motivated
The Denver Broncos probably have not made second-year center Lloyd Cushenberry feel real comfortable this offseason.
Drafted in the third round last year, Cushenberry started all 16 games as a rookie at center. But the Broncos, who have an improved offensive line, have some opportunity at the center position right now.
It’s far from a lock that Cushenberry is a lock to keep the starting job. The team selected Quinn Meinerz in the third round of the draft and on Tuesday, signed former Minnesota Vikings offensive lineman Brett Jones.
That starts to cloud things for Cushenberry, who could find himself on the bench this season as a rotational guy.
When the Broncos drafted Meinerz, it was originally thought he would play guard, but with Dalton Risner and Graham Glasgow already on the roster. he will get a chance to win the position at center. He can still play guard and may be a more versatile overall player than Cushenberry.
Jones comes in now and muddies those waters even more. To make room for Jones on the roster, the Broncos parted ways with Patrick Morris, who was in line to start at center for the team at one point but never came close to making that happen.
The Broncos will be looking for a starting center out of these three players, but they will also be looking for guys who can play a couple of positions effectively. In today’s NFL, that is how you make a roster and Cushenberry could easily fall behind both Meinerz and the more experienced Jones in that regard.
That makes this an important training camp for the young Cushenberry. It’s not likely the team would move on from him at this stage in his career, but if he is outperformed by both Meinerz and Jones in camp, it could certainly make him a candidate for a trade.
At the same time, all of this could light a competitive fire within Cushnberry and he might come to camp and blow everyone away. making it clear that he is the best option at center and leave Meinerz and Jones fighting for rotational spots. Meinerz will have one of those, at the very least.
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As for Cushenberry, these moves have likely put him on high alert as training camp kicks off.