Are the Denver Broncos already regretting this big free agent signing?
Sean Payton and the Denver Broncos spent a ton of money in free agency this past offseason. Could they already be regretting their most expensive signing? Denver hasn't had stable right tackle play in years, and that unfortunate streak is still going on. The team decided enough was enough and signed Mike McGlinchey to a deal worth nearly $100 million.
However, through two games, could the Denver Broncos already be regretting this signing? McGlinchey was a first-round pick back in the 2018 NFL Draft out of Notre Dame, a school that has produced some very good offensive linemen. He began and spent the first five years of his career with the San Francisco 49ers, and he had some up and down seasons.
In 2022, his last year with San Francisco, he wasn't all that great. According to PFF, he did grade out as a solid 71.5 if you're one to look at PFF grades. However, PFF also credited him with a whopping 10 penalties and six sacks allowed, both ranking within the top 15.
In 2023, according to PFF, McGlinchey's grade is a poor 49.4, and they've already credited him with two penalties and two sacks allowed, which would put McGlinchey on pace to allow 17 sacks this year. He's also allowed a metric ton of pressures thus far in 2023. Now, to be fair to McGlinchey, he's had to go up against some stellar defensive lines during the first two weeks of the season.
The Raiders' and Commanders' defensive lines are no joke, but it seems like McGlinchey has been the worst OL along the Broncos' line, by far. The 6'8" right tackle performs best as a run blocker, where he's among the best in the NFL, but his pass blocking is suspect. The idea here seemed to be McGlinchey thriving in Denver because it was assumed that Denver would be a run first team.
As the season goes on, Denver's opposition along the defensive line gets more manageable, which is great, but I'm wondering if the Broncos are already regretting this signing. Perhaps someone like Cameron Fleming being plugged in at RT for a fraction of the cost coupled with a developmental tackle would have been a better situation than paying a ton of money for Mike McGlinchey.
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The deal that MM signed is effectively a three-year pact, so the Broncos aren't attached to him forever.
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