Mike McGlinchey is thinking, talking and making sense of the question.
A few weeks shy of his 32nd birthday, why is he playing the best football of his career?
“Just work. And I started to find the belief and understanding of what we are doing,” McGlinchey told The Post after the Broncos’ final day of mandatory minicamp on Wednesday. “It’s a funny thing that even nine years in, you still battle those mental demons because you are so competitive.”
McGlinchey should have earned All-Pro honors last season. He was that good, building off consistency that started when he returned from an MCL knee injury on Nov. 17, 2024 at New Orleans.
He allowed two sacks in 2025. He was a force in the run game.
The idea that he would age better than Ryan Seacrest seemed preposterous during his first season in Denver. McGlinchey had seven false starts and seemed out of sorts. He signed a five-year, $87.5 million free agent contract, a reward for a lifetime of work.
Then came the hard part: He had to live up to it.
“That can go one of two ways, as you know,” McGlinchey said. “And Zach Strief changed my life.”
Strief, the Broncos offensive line coach, walked in McGlinchey’s shoes as a longtime right tackle for Sean Payton with the Saints. Strief understood what McGlinchey needed to do to reach his potential. But McGlinchey was not initially ready for the advice.
“We butted heads at practice, on the sideline, in the meeting rooms,” McGlinchey said.
McGlinchey cared about football too much, his passion blending into obsession. It led to unintended consequences of selfishness and doubt.
“I just think I wanted it so bad. I was told by somebody that if your greatest strengths aren’t disciplined, they very easily can become your greatest weakness. So my love for this was getting channeled in ways that were not helping me. It was becoming too pressurized. The expectations were externally focused instead of inwardly focused,” McGlinchey said. “At some point, you have to just let yourself play football. And Zach and I have done a lot of work on that. He has such a unique ability to connect, teach and make you believe.”
Standing a few pointy strands of hair shy of 6-foot-8 and weighing 315 pounds, McGlinchey fills the doorway to the Broncos locker room. His voice straddles somewhere between Alan Roach and Barry White, deep, unmistakable. It is difficult to imagine him wavering at anything.
Creative tension with Strief ultimately became his compass direction. McGlinchey listened, let go. He also let himself relax, realizing there were things more important than a three-point stance with two kids — 2-year-old son Tripp, 4-month-old daughter Rosie — and a loving wife, Brooke, at home.
“Being a dad has helped. It’s the first time there was something more important than what I was doing on the field. It has given me freedom,” McGlinchey said. “Even if I stink out here, my kids don’t care. Nor will my wife. It really puts things in proper perspective.”
Entering his fourth season in Denver, the focus has narrowed. The buy-in is a given. McGlinchey remains a critical piece in a Broncos offensive line that ranks among the NFL’s best. Pro Football Focus graded them seventh in run blocking and first in pass blocking.
The linemen play with violence and technique. McGlinchey said he has never been around someone who coaches pass protection better.
“It’s all based on, can you stop power? Can you stop bull-rushes?” Strief said.
Bo Nix might as well have been behind a paywall last season. The Broncos’ 23 sacks allowed were tied for the fewest in the league.
“The entire offensive line is solid,” said Matt Ryan when he was a CBS analyst before becoming the Atlanta Falcons president of football this offseason. “I think Mike played some of his best football. And there’s no one tougher than him.”
Ryan would know. He is McGlinchey’s cousin and has followed his football journey for two decades.
What makes McGlinchey’s renaissance fascinating is how it ties into the group.
When Payton took over in February of 2023, rebuilding upfront was a top priority. He signed left guard Ben Powers and McGlinchey in the first hours of free agency. With camp six weeks out, the Broncos boast two All-Pros — left tackle Garett Bolles and right guard Quinn Meinerz — as well as a steady center in Luke Wattenberg, the powerful Powers and ascending McGlinchey.
They are committed. Invested. Protective.
It’s not just the bodyguard stuff that teammates appreciate. It is the effort, the edge, the mentality created that permeates the building.
“When we first got together that first year, we said to each other: ‘This team won’t change unless this room changes.’ And if this room can be the strength of this organization, then this team is going places. And Zach has put that at the forefront of everything we do,” McGlinchey said. “It is not about being great individually. It’s about being great together.”
The best groups function like five fingers forming a fist. But while expectations in the building center on a Super Bowl, outsiders revel in punching the Broncos in the throat. Their over-under for wins is 9.5 in most shops — a prediction that, if it comes true, would leave the Broncos out of the playoffs after losing in the AFC Championship Game last season.
“I don’t really care that Vegas has us with the third best odds to win the AFC West. Whatever. What we have is self-belief and proof. And our head coach won’t allow us to worry about that. He has a great message every morning in the team meeting,” McGlinchey said. “He knows how to channel our focus.”
While the roster retention raised external concerns, it is clear that the players see it as a strength. They were a failed fourth down, one dreadful turnover and an ill-timed snowstorm from reaching the Super Bowl.
These are not the Broncos of four years ago. This is definitely not the Mike McGlinchey of 2023.
He is driven to help the O-line become the reason the Broncos cross the finish line.
“If you are right in the slot where you want to play with the mindset you want to play with, there is nobody out there can mess with you and nobody out there that can mess with our group. That is the belief that Zach gives us,” McGlinchey said. “We are going to play six teams in the first six weeks who are all going to be among the favorites to win the Super Bowl. You want the opportunity to compete against the best in the world. Myles Garrett, T.J. Watt, Maxx Crosby, they should feel the same way about our line. T.J. Watt has to get past me, Myles Garrett has to get past Garett Bolles, Chris Jones has to get past Quinn Meinerz. I would say, ‘Good luck.’ If you don’t have that mindset, you have no chance to be successful in this league.”
