Will Montgomery, set to snap the ball in a preseason game against the Texans, will be the Broncos’ center against the Raiders on Sunday. (Justin Edmonds, Getty Images)
OAKLAND — Will Montgomery and a step to the right.
The Broncos are mixing up their dance partners along their offensive line for their AFC West game here Sunday against the Oakland Raiders.
Montgomery, a starter the previous 3 1/2 seasons for Mike Shanahan in Washington, will be Peyton Manning’s new snapper.
As Montgomery goes in, Manny Ramirez will move from center to right guard and Louis Vasquez, an all-pro right guard, shifts from right guard to right tackle.
Paul Cornick, who started at right tackle the previous three games, will not play against the Raiders because of a shoulder injury that occurred during the Broncos’ practice Wednesday. The re-alignment up front had taken place during the week of practice before Cornick suffered his injury.
Essentially, this new offensive alignment amounts to Montgomery replacing Cornick. The Broncos have been dissatisfied with their running game as a whole and right tackle play in particular.
Even with Ronnie Hillman getting two 100-yard rushing games, the Broncos rank 26th in the league with 3.7 yards per carry.
The hope is that Montgomery, 31, can bring a little more agility to the Broncos’ offensive line, particularly in the second level. Once a walk-on defensive tackle at Virginia Tech, Montgomery was selected in the seventh round of the 2006 draft by John Fox’s Carolina Panthers.
Montgomery was cut by the Panthers in 2007, then played sparingly with the New York Jets before catching on with Washington in 2008.
With Montgomery at center, Ramirez will move to his more natural guard position. Ramirez played center for the first time last year, starting all 19 games including postseason, for the Broncos in 2013 and the first eight this year.
He was a college teammate of Vasquez and receiver Wes Welker at Texas Tech. Vasquez is a 6-foot-5, 335-pound guard who played one game at right tackle last season in place of the injured Orlando Franklin.
By moving Vasquez to right tackle, the Broncos bypassed the options of re-inserting early season starter Chris Clark, or moving Franklin from left guard back to the position he played in his first three NFL seasons.
Clark, who played well at left tackle last season, started the Broncos’ first five games this year at right tackle.
