ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Win or lose, good day or bad, Broncos’ first-year right tackle Mike McGlinchey stands tall both literally in his 6-foot-8, 315-pound frame and figuratively in front of his locker and answers the media questions.
He is large but not intimidating as his friendly, agreeable manner disarms those he converses with. From what the local media can tell, McGlinchey is a good guy. For this, McGlinchey received the 17th annual Darrent Williams Good Guy Award this season in a vote by reporters who regularly cover the Broncos.
“Obviously, moving to a new city and a new team and a new organization is a pretty daunting task at times,’’ McGlinchey said. “I really appreciate you[r] guys’ professionalism and the way you’ve treated me and my teammates over this season. It wasn’t as pretty as a season as we would’ve liked it to have been but it was a great season nonetheless and a helluva roller coaster and one we’re going to learn from.
“My wife and I thank you guys and everybody else here in Denver for welcoming us from the bottom of our hearts. Appreciate you guys very much for this, thank you.”
John Lynch – McGlinchey’s general manager through his first five seasons with the San Francisco 49ers – was the first recipient of the Darrent Williams Good Guy Award in 2007. Chris Harris Jr. was a two-time winner. Justin Simmons won it three times. Dalton Risner won it last year.
McGlinchey was asked why he is so respectful and accommodating to the media.
“I don’t think I ever made a conscious decision to be honest with you,’’ McGlinchey said. “It is a part of our job. And it certainly is a part of your job to make sure the stories are covered. It’s a hard job that you guys have to do. You’re dealing with temperamental athletes like myself all the time, and temperamental coaches. So we all understand everybody’s got a job to do in this whole thing.
“Our league is the greatest league in the world because of the outlet we have to so many different people and I think it’s very important to show not only respect to you guys, but put the best foot forward for our football team and what we want to be represented as. I think being coachable and being professional are two of the biggest qualities that you need to be successful in this league and I try to put my best foot forward doing those two things.”
All-Time Darrent Williams Good Guy Award Winners
- 2007 — John Lynch
- 2008 — Ebenezer Ekuban
- 2009 — Elvis Dumervil
- 2010 — Mario Haggan
- 2011 — Champ Bailey
- 2012 — Wesley Woodyard
- 2013 — Chris Harris Jr.
- 2014 — Terrance Knighton
- 2015 — Brandon Marshall
- 2016 — DeMarcus Ware
- 2017 — Justin Simmons
- 2018 — Chris Harris Jr.
- 2019 — Justin Simmons
- 2020 — Justin Simmons
- 2021 — Teddy Bridgewater
- 2022 — Dalton Risner
- 2023 — Mike McGlinchey
About 10 hours after Williams had just finished his second season as a Broncos’ starting cornerback opposite Champ Bailey, he was leaving a New Year’s Eve party at a downtown Denver nightclub in a Hummer limousine when Willie D. Clark, then a 23-year-old gang member, fired 14 bullets into the vehicle. One fatal bullet struck Williams in the neck. Williams was pronounced dead at 2:30 a.m. Jan. 1, 2007. Clark was eventually convicted of Williams’ murder and was sentenced to life in prison.
The local football writers came up with a Good Guy Award in Williams’ honor as he was a fun-loving, outspoken and accessible Broncos player when dealing with the media.
“I did a little bit of research (on Darrent Williams),’’ McGlinchey said. “But the way that people talk about him and the teammate that he was and the representative he was for the Denver Broncos still carries on. A very cool honor to be mentioned in the same breath as someone like him and very, very honored to have won this award.”
McGlinchey suffered a rib injury in the first quarter of the Broncos’ previous game Sunday against the Chargers and did not return. He did not practice Wednesday and Thursday and it won’t be easy for him to play in the season finale this Sunday at Las Vegas. If he does, the Broncos will have the same five offensive line starters for every game in a season – a feat that hasn’t happened for the Broncos since the Tebow season of 2011. Then again, the league expanded its regular season from 16 games to 17 just three years ago.
“It would be huge,’’ McGlinchey said. “I’m going to do my best to get there. They hurt pretty good. Unfortunately with the ribs you can’t really avoid them (when doing everything from breathing on) so I’m going to do my best to be out there on Sunday.”
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