Miles
Well-known member
- Mar 18, 2019
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ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — In the lead-up to the 2020 NFL Draft, most of the national attention linked the Broncos to a wide receiver.
That was for good reason, and it also turned out to be prescient. The Broncos selected Jerry Jeudy and KJ Hamler with their first two picks in the draft.
The Broncos, though, had an equally large hole in the middle of their offensive line. Following Connor McGovern's departure in free agency, the Broncos were in need of a center.
Free-agent addition Graham Glasgow could've filled the need, but the Broncos made it clear they preferred for Glasgow to play guard. And thus, as Denver entered the third round of the draft, finding an interior offensive lineman was among their top priorities.
The Broncos found their answer at the position when they selected LSU center Lloyd Cushenberry III with the 83rd-overall pick. And the 6-foot-3, 312-pound player should compete for a Day 1 starting job.
"Cushenberry is a guy that is very solid center," said President of Football Operations/GM John Elway during the draft. "He played in the SEC and had a great career down there, so were excited about Lloyd."
He'll likely compete against veterans Patrick Morris and Austin Schlottmann for the starting job, but his experience at LSU should leave him well-prepared for the task.
Cushenberry started the final 28 games of his career for the Tigers, including all 15 games as LSU won a national championship last season. The 2019 unit was given the Joe Moore Award as the SEC's best offensive line, and Cushenberry was awarded first-team All-SEC honors and named a second-team All-American.
Though Cushenberry doesn't have the elite athletic upside of other centers in the league, he stands up nicely in pass protection. His first punch against rushers is powerful — and he showed that at the 2020 Senior Bowl as he held up in one-on-one drills against the eventual 14th-overall pick, Javon Kinlaw.
Cushenberry also faced off last season against Derrick Brown, the seventh-overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft.
"We had to deal with a lot of different blitzes and had to pick them up on the fly most of the time," said Cushenberry of his experience dealing with five-man protections in college. "I know in the NFL it's not as much five-man pro, so I feel like just having that year in the NFL-style system with Coach [Joe] Brady has helped me a lot. I'm just looking forward to getting to Denver and get diving into that playbook to see what we can do."