[Quesadilla Joe]

How McGlinchey wound up in Denver:

Spoiler!

Based on all of our work, we figured we were looking at maybe a handful of teams we thought would be serious players. That thought didn't last long because Denver wasted no time making it clear how much they wanted me.

The window opened at 9 a.m. PT and within 10 or 15 minutes, the Broncos reached out to my agent. They were able to talk to each other. What an amazing concept. Right away, it was very easy to see what was going on in Denver, and why playing for the Broncos is such an exciting opportunity.

Broncos coach Sean Payton is a Hall of Famer and a really good human being. Zach Strief, the O-line coach, is a guy that was in my shoes when he played 12 years for Payton. They have a Hall of Fame quarterback in Russell Wilson and a great defense.

The offer came with all of that built in. I didn't even really field another offer because Denver's was so good right off the bat. They were direct. "We're going to have the best offer to get you. If you want it, it's yours."

I didn't know what to expect out of this process. I'd never been in an open negotiation like this before, but I knew what the top right tackles were getting and I think I'm a top right tackle. I think other teams will agree, and this -- a big offer right at the start from a team that clearly agreed -- was obviously the best-case scenario.

And then Denver is a great city to live in. It was the closest one to the Bay Area. And there's a great fan base for a storied franchisewith an ownership group that can kind of blow everybody else out of the water with their assets. And Coach Payton, seeing how invested they are in the team, and how much they want to win,seems convinced that they're going to become one of the greatest ownership groups in football. Anybody who's around the NFL knows how important that is; there are about 15 to 20 places that are an uphill battle on that front.

…

But we also were inundated with calls and texts. [Broncos tackle] Garett Bolles reached out right away.

Russ [Wilson] was one of the first people to text me. He welcomed me to the team and then later in the afternoon, he was on his way home from the dentist with his wife and kids and we talked on FaceTime for about 20 minutes.

It's funny how this league works. Russ broke our hearts numerous times in San Francisco and now I'm talking to him on FaceTime about how we can get to work and try to build a great offense in Denver.

…

Now that the deal is done, I don't feel any different. It's the Forrest Gump thing: one less thing to worry about. This isn't the end goal. I want to be the best in the world at what I do, and I'm still on that journey. The amount of money I make doesn't change that. My family's future is secure, and that's a pretty sick feeling.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/...denver-broncos