The Broncos are continuing to add experienced players to their offensive line squad.
On Thursday, the team announced that Denver has signed center Sam Mustipher to a one-year contract.
In 2023, Mustipher was with the Baltimore team, and previously, he played for Chicago for the first three years of his career.
Sam Mustipher was not chosen in the 2020 draft from Notre Dame, but he played in nine games and started seven for the Bears in that year. After that, he was a full-time starter for two seasons before becoming a reserve in Baltimore last year.
During his time in Baltimore, he participated in nine games, started in the second and third weeks of the season when Tyler Linderbaum was injured, and received praise from Ravens head coach John Harbaugh for his work in relief.
After Week 2, Harbaugh said, “Sam Mustipher deserves a lot of credit – a ton of credit. He played so well and really just kept it going at a high level.”
Mustipher is another experienced player for Denver, which lost center Lloyd Cushenberry to Tennessee on a four-year deal worth up to $50 million at the start of free agency.
Besides Mustipher, the Broncos also have young players competing for the starting job such as Alex Forsyth and Luke Wattenberg.
This marks the third offensive lineman the Broncos have obtained in free agency. Mustipher joins swing tackle Matt Peart and interior offensive lineman Calvin Throckmorton. Head coach Sean Payton and general manager George Paton have both spoken highly of Forsyth and Wattenberg.
Payton mentioned that those players were a factor in the departure of Cushenberry, despite being reluctant about it.
Last month, Payton stated that these players were part of the reason Denver ultimately had to watch Cushenberry leave, even if it was with some discomfort.
Payton said, “If not for either of those two or both in the building, there’s a chance maybe we would have moved in the direction of extending ourselves, if you will. But those are the two candidates today as we sit here that will have a good opportunity to win that job.”
Wattenberg had a challenging outing when he started one game as a rookie in 2022. However, he displayed improved play strength and comfort in his relatively brief, 38-snap second season. Forsyth, a 2023 seventh-round draft pick, did not play in his rookie year but received unprompted praise from Payton a couple of times for his scout team work during the season.
Referring to the young duo, Payton said last month, “There’s a grit element to them. They’re both athletic and extremely intelligent, just like Lloyd. It’s a position that requires not only a specific skill set, but also a certain cerebral mindset.
“I think that both of those guys have that temperament, but they also have that understanding of what we’re doing.”
Now they also have competition from a veteran.
Sam Mustipher’s younger brother, P.J., is a defensive tackle from Penn State who spent most of his rookie season in 2023 on Denver’s practice squad before being signed to New Orleans’ 53-man roster late in the year.
This story will be updated.
