The Broncos will be down McGlinchey for a month as he recovers from a significant MCL sprain he suffered during the game on Sunday.
According to NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo, Denver Broncos right tackle Mike McGlinchey suffered a “significant MCL sprain” during the loss vs. the Steelers and is expected to be sidelined for about a month.
He does state that evaluations are currently ongoing so the timeline for McGlinchey is still somewhat fluid. I would expect McGlinchey to be a potential short-term IR candidate if he is indeed expected to miss about a month, but we shall see how the evaluations go moving forward.
#Broncos OT Mike McGlinchey suffered a significant MCL sprain and is expected to miss about a month, sources say. Evaluations are ongoing, so the timeline is somewhat fluid. But he’ll be sidelined for a bit. pic.twitter.com/w7w6HoxSSs
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) September 16, 2024
McGlinchey went down late in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s loss to the Steelers and was helped to the sideline. Both and Bolles went down at the same time but McGlinchey was replaced by Alex Palczewski at right tackle. I would expect either swing tackle Matt Peart or Palczewski to get the start at right tackle while he is sidelined with Frank Crum likely being active on game day.
This is a bit of a loss for a Broncos offensive line that was already struggling a little bit. Now, rookie quarterback Bo Nix will have a backup right tackle protecting him. On top of that, McGlinchey is one of the Broncos’ better run blockers and his absence will potentially make their already struggling run game have even more issues moving forward.
Last season, the Broncos offensive line stayed healthy throughout the year, which is rare, but that was never going to happen a second straight year. This Sunday, the Broncos get the blitz-happy Tampa Bay Buccaneers defense run by head coach Todd Bowles. It will be another tough test for the Broncos offense that will be even more difficult now with them being down their starting right tackle.