DENVER — Hours into the legal tampering period on Mar. 16, John Elway landed one of his highest-graded offensive linemen in free agency by signing former Detroit Lion Graham Glasgow.
After signing a four-year, $44 million deal with $26 million guaranteed, the 27-year old comes to Denver with all the money and high expectations, but without a position set in stone.
“I’m open to playing wherever,” Glasgow said to the Denver media on Tuesday afternoon during his introductory conference call. “I’ve played all positions in the past, except for tackle. And if they want me to play tackle, I’d give it a go, but hopefully not.”
Fortunately for Graham, he won’t be playing tackle in Denver. However, the Broncos do have sizeable holes at both center and right guard as their 2019 starters, Connor McGovern and Ron Leary, are no longer on the team.
Fortunately for the Broncos, the 6-foot-6 interior offensive lineman has played both center and right guard the past two seasons. In 2018, Glasgow was Detroit’s starting center, while last year he was their starting right guard.
“I kind of imagine guard, but center is cool too,” Glasgow said, when asked which position he will play on Denver’s line. “I felt like playing guard is something that I learned to do really well and that’s something I can bring to the team. I’m a very, very good guard and I’m a very good center.”
It appears the Broncos imagine he’ll be their starting right guard as well. On their official press release announcing the signing on Monday, the team identified him as a guard, yet Elway simply just said Glasgow “fills a big need for us.”
“Graham is a big, powerful and tough ascending player who was one of the top interior offensive linemen on the market,” Elway said in the release. “Over the course of his pro and college career, he’s shown incredible durability and been very productive. Graham’s best football is ahead of him.”
During his four-year tenure with the Lions, Detroit tossed the third-round pick around the offensive line like a piece of popcorn.
“My rookie year I was brought in playing center and they kind of put me into the guard position, which felt like out of nowhere,” Glasgow said. “I played a lot of center in college, so when I would go back to playing center it was something that was a little bit easier for me to do. Playing guard was something that I had to—especially at the NFL level—was something that I had to learn, particularly early in my career.”
Glasgow’s proved he’s a good student. As a starting right guard in 2019, he ranked as Pro Football Focus’ ninth-best guard in the NFL.
While Graham is open to playing either position, he politely hinted it’s not the position he has a preference with, but more so the stability that is what’s key—something he didn’t have in Detroit.
“Contrary to what a lot of people would say, I think it’s a bigger switch [moving from center to guard] than what people would like to let on,” Glasgow said. “Primarily the biggest difference being the difference in blocking the three-technique versus blocking a one-shade is pretty sizeable.”
With the likes of Aaron Donald and Chris Jones making up the interior of the defensive lines across the NFL, there’s been added pressure on interior offensive lineman, specifically guards as of recent, according to the new Bronco.
“When you’re a guard, there’s a lot less help,” he said, continuing to explain the differences of the two positions. “You’re not really getting helped as much as when you’re a center. [As a center] you’re mainly just giving help.”
Glasgow believes in the pass game, guard is more challenging, but in the run game, center is more difficult.
Entering the draft, all signs point to Glasgow locking down right guard, which will create a dangerous two-guard duo with he and Dalton Risner at left guard.
That is an exciting thought for the new Bronco.
“Good guard play helps the offense out a lot,” Glasgow said with passion. “When you have good guard play, you’re running the ball well, you’re having particularly good double teams, which helps make creases for the running back. The guards and center make it so you have less minus-yard runs, which helps with the average… Having particularly good guard play helps in the passing game a lot too.”
Making $11 million a season, there’s no doubt Glasgow will have a starting spot along the interior of Denver’s offensive line. Whether that be at center or right guard has officially yet to be determined. Whichever one it is he’s “cool” with. But don’t turn him into a piece of popcorn.
