ENGLEWOOD, Colo – You would have thought Denver Broncos offensive lineman Michael Schofield cost the team the season if you read the criticism that showered him from Week 3, when he took over at right tackle position in the 2015 season, all the way to Super Bowl 50. Yet, when it was all said and done, he had started 16 straight games and benefited greatly from a tough personal season.
“You get to a point where you have to shut it all off,” Schofield said Tuesday of the immediate and constant criticism brought his way last season. “You can’t listen to it. Not a lot of positive things were said about me after the first couple of weeks so after that I just shut everything off and just worried about myself.”
Schofield came under constant fire while experienced pass rushers often made him look silly in his second season in the National Football League, yet he did so when the team had little to no other option. Early in the 2016 offseason, he was slated as a backup “swing tackle” along the new-look offensive line, yet once again, injuries have placed Schofield back into the starting roster, this time at right guard.
The experience of jumping into a starting role after tackle Ty Sambrailo went down in 2015 has made this season’s sudden position change and promotion much easier.
“This being my second year in the offense, too, really helps,” Schofield declared. “ If this had been last year and I had to switch positions this early I probably would have been hitting the panic button right now. It’s a different transition obviously, going from tackle to guard. Everything happens a little quicker at guard, but the guys like Max [Garcia] and Matt [Paradis] have been a huge help for me to adjust as quick as I could.”
Pro Football Focus rated Schofield 64th out of 77 tackles in 2015, not a ranking that would induce confidence, yet the Broncos’ coaching staff has been very impressed with his demeanor as well has his consistency in training camp this summer.
“Michael’s just been really consistent, and I think that’s the biggest thing,” Offensive Coordinator Rick Dennison said Monday. “We feel really good about him playing next to Donald [Stephenson] and next to Matt [Paradis]. The consistency is a big thing for us and making sure that we’re all on the same page.”
Paradis was the only linemen to play every snap for the Broncos last season and was impressed with Schofield’s focus through last season and into 2016.
“Mike just kept his head down and kept working,” Paradis said Tuesday. “Yeah and he’s moved to guard. He’s a big guy long arms. He looks good.”
The team’s biggest perceived weakness last season was the offensive line as a group and they are again the early recipients of more negative attention outside of the team’s building. Inside the locker room, it is a different story.
“We’re confident man,” Paradis said definitively. “We’ve been working hard. The whole group has been working together, we’ve had some shuffling, but we’ve all been together since the spring, so we’re excited.”
Thursday night, the Broncos will take on one of, if not the best front-seven defenses in the Carolina Panthers. Last time they met no one gave the Broncos’ line a chance, particularly Schofield, yet again—as Head Coach Gary Kubiak put it Monday—“Michael’s earned the right,” to start for the defending champions.
