Mike McGlinchey talks Broncos’ future quarterback uncertainty

The way Mike McGlinchey figures it, having a single-track mind can actually make you a good multitasker.

That might seem counterintuitive, but the Broncos’ right tackle has shown in his first year here the way he puts it into practice.

Focus on winning, put your efforts into that, and you can find progress on multiple levels.

It can help provide leadership on an offense that needed it.

It can help a new head coach build the culture he wants.

It can help drive a minimum three-win improvement over 2022 with one more division game left on the docket.

It can instill a belief in the locker room that brighter days are ahead.

“You knew it wasn’t going to be the smoothest sailing coming in with a new coach and a new organization and learning the ropes,” McGlinchey said Thursday. “Everybody is in a new environment. Certainly, those things don’t come easy. Especially when you’re trying to overcome a lot of hardship from years past.

“I think this team found a little bit of their heart this year and certainly found what it means to compete as hard as you can each week. We battled. I think the heart and the character of this team and what we’ve shown and what we’ve overcome, even with where we were this last month or so, I think it says a lot about who we are and what we’re going to become.

“I’m very excited for the future.”

You’ll find that sentiment at many lockers in the Broncos’ practice facility.

There is also, however, a cloud of uncertainty. Maybe it lurked somewhere in the background earlier in the season, but now it’s here for real: Nobody on the roster knows who the Broncos’ quarterback will be next year.

The least likely candidate at this point appears to be Russell Wilson after his benching and what looks like an imminent departure. Perhaps Jarrett Stidham will get a real chance. Maybe it will be a rookie from the 2024 draft. Maybe it will be a bargain-bin free agent. Maybe it will be an intriguing castoff from a team that goes the draft route or feels it has other options.

Doesn’t it seem, then, like any progress made this year is hampered by that uncertainty at the game’s most important position? What good was building a foundation with this group if the future is muddled by the substantial financial fallout from a Wilson divorce?

“With respect to the quarterback position — it’s a big-time position — but it is just one position,” McGlinchey said. “There are other facets to our football team and other things that are going on that we need to improve on first to make sure that guy’s job is a lot easier. It’s not my job to speak on who that’s going to be. I trust fully that (head coach) Sean (Payton) and the team upstairs will get this right, no matter what’s going on, and the trust they put in the person that plays that position for us.

“We’ve been very lucky to have two good ones this year, and we’re going to continue to move forward. Like I said, it is just one position. There are 21 other guys — 32, I guess, if you count special teams — to get better.

“It’s our job to get better at every position and you have to look inside first before you start worrying about everything else.”

Rosters turn over every offseason. Change is the only constant in the NFL. But McGlinchey, who signed a five-year deal last spring, is one of the staples for Denver going forward. And when the vacation time is past and free agency and the draft come and go, the Broncos are going to look different in myriad ways. Nothing will be more significant than the quarterback room.

The big right tackle, who arrived in town known to his friends as Senator McGlinchey and has so far proven to be the locker room presence Payton and Denver’s front office hoped he’d be, probably knows it’s going to look a lot different next year. He saw quarterback changes aplenty over five years in San Francisco, but a lot of winning, too.

Trying to recreate that here is going to be a heavy lift.

Hindsight is 20/20

On a play that goes down as a highlight reel touchdown for Lil’Jordan Humphrey — he barreled over, bounced off and bedeviled several Chargers defenders — and Jarrett Stidham (his first as a Bronco), the real star of the play is fullback Michael Burton.

The veteran free-agent addition this spring first stepped to Stidham’s left and buried Eric Kendricks in the A-gap, providing forceful pass protection and plenty of room for Stidham to step up in the pocket. Then after Stidham threw the ball, Burton sprinted down the field and blocked two more guys, including shoving Asante Samuel Jr. back a good 15 yards toward the end zone.

Lil’Jordan with a big run after the catch for the TD!

📺: #LACvsDEN on CBS
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/sFjqko01pD pic.twitter.com/2vDYUGM8bR

— NFL (@NFL) December 31, 2023

Incredible play by ‘Burt,” Stidham said. … “That’s just kind of how ‘Burt’ is. That’s what he does in practice. Even if he doesn’t catch a pass, he acts like he catches a pass and then runs literally 80 yards down the field almost every play. It doesn’t surprise me that he did that.”