The Denver Broncos continued to stock pile talent along their highly questionable offensive line Wednesday when they made a trade with the Baltimore Ravens for Gino Gradkowski.
Gradkowski is a entering his fourth season in the NFL after playing sparingly in 2014. After multiple sources reported the deal, Troy Renck of the Denver Post confirmed that the Broncos traded a 2016 fourth-round draft pick in exchange for Gradkowski and a 2016 fifth-round draft pick.
Gradkowski, who played under Kubiak in 2014, will enter the competition at center with second-year player Matt Paradis. Will Montgomery, the Broncos center in 2014 looks to be on his way out as he continues to look for a deal in free agency. Gradkowski has also played guard and will be have an opportunity to fight for a spot there as well.
He was drafted out of Delaware University and played in several games in the Ravens Super Bowl year of 2012. In 2013 he started every game at center for the Ravens but didn’t do enough to secure his positon with the team in 2014. Despite being healthy in 2014 he saw very little playing time and lost the job early in the season to veteran center Jeremy Zuttah.
According to Pro Football Focus he played in 89 snaps in 2012, 1,181 in 2013 and only 10 in 2014 while appearing in 46 NFL games.
Gradkowski seems happy to be getting a fresh start and immediately began his courtship with Broncos Country on Wednesday.
“Very excited for my new opportunity with the Broncos! Thank you Broncos fans for the love already. I can’t wait to get started,” Gradkowski said via twitter.
The Broncos are clearly addressing their weakness at the offensive line but who will win the jobs at left guard, center and right tackle remain a complete mystery. It appears that all of the new players and second year Broncos will all get a long look starting April 13th when offseason workouts begin.
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