Graham Glasgow Says he & Dalton Risner Are Hitting it Off on the Broncos' O-Line
Earlier this year, the Denver Broncos signed interior offensive lineman Graham Glasgow to a four-year deal worth $44 million. Glasgow was a prized free agent on the market and was a no-brainer to replace Ronald Leary’s vacancy at right guard.
Glasgow played at Michigan before being drafted by the Detroit Lions in the third round in 2016. He played four seasons for the Lions where he his versatility was utilized on the offensive line.
During his Detroit tenure, he saw action at left guard, right guard, and center. In 2019, Glasgow logged 805 snaps at right guard and 85 snaps at center without surrendering any sacks.
Following Tuesday's practice, Glasgow was made available to the media for the first time since inking his big free-agent deal back in March and it didn't take him long to bring up his position coach Mike Munchak.
“First of all, Munch is awesome,” said Glasgow. “Munch has a lot of technique things that he wants us to do and that he does a really good job of teaching."
The signing of Glasgow suggests that Munchak hand-selected the scrappy 6-foot-6, 310-pound enforcer in free agency. Glasgow's disciplined technique and consistency are exactly what Munchak needs to complement starting left guard Dalton Risner.
With Risner and Glasgow anchoring the guard positions, Elway has begun the process of building the offensive line literally from the inside out.
“Me and Dalton have been getting along awesome,” Glasgow explained. “I feel like he’s a contemporary and somebody who I can actually talk ball with. Because of that, he’s a good player. He’s young and he’s up and coming. He’s going to do great things here, and I’m just fortunate that I’m on the line with him really.”
Glasgow and Risner have already begun the process of leading the Broncos' O-line together, using one another as a sounding board.
"I think he does a good job of bouncing ideas off me, and I do a good job of bouncing ideas off him," Glasgow said of Risner.
Risner hopes to lead the Broncos' O-line alongside Glasgow.
"Graham Glasgow is awesome. He’s a character," Risner said on August 6. "I’m going to learn so much from Graham in terms of leadership. He’s already mentoring me in terms of how to handle myself in the offseason with workouts, stretching, and massaging. I’m going to learn a lot from that guy. He’s a great player. He’s really smart, and he’s really calm and collected. He’s not going to show a lot of emotion. He’s always going to be rocking the mustache and he’s not going to be too high or too low."
Amid a pandemic and restricted NFL season that no longer includes preseason games, the Broncos have embraced the scheme of new offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur. Glasgow praised the Broncos' offensive coaching staff and younger players for their commitment to learning in the virtual environment.
When asked what he’s learning from Munchak, Glasgow said, “A lot of people have told me that he’s an awesome coach and he has a fantastic way of getting his players to play the best way that they can. I didn’t know exactly what that entailed, but he has a way that he likes to teach his technique. He has a technique that he likes us to use. I’ve been trying to basically immerse myself in that, take it in and use it as much as I can and not be scared to switch things up. Because of that, I’ll wind up being an even better player.”
Glasgow’s experience and knowledge are welcome in the O-line room. So far, Austin Schlottmann and Patrick Morris have been splitting reps with the starting offense and are competing for the starting center position. Rookie third-rounder Lloyd Cushenberry III remained with the second-team offense up until Day 5 of camp (where he finally got first-team reps) and will factor into the starting center job.
If Cushenberry wins the competition by the end of training camp, he’ll have valuable resources in Risner and Glasgow at either side of him. This makes the addition of Glasgow even more valuable for the Broncos.
Too often, many fans feel it’s the responsibility of the coaches to develop players. Instead, a healthy combination of coaching and mentoring can kick-start a young player’s career and build confidence. So, at the ripe age of 28 years old, Glasgow has embraced his role as an accomplished NFL veteran on his new team.
He also spoke about the maturity of his younger teammates, and the expectation to work.
“When you’re in the huddle, you’d never know that these guys are first, second, third or fourth-year players,’ Glasgow said. “They all conduct themselves extremely well and I think that’s something we have going for us. It doesn’t really matter that they’re young. They have the mentality that they’re just going to go out there and produce, and that’s something you can’t really teach. That’s more credit to them.”
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