March 5, 2026 was a big day for Alex Palczewski. So big that the Broncos’ offensive lineman at first got a bit carried away when looking back at it.

On that day, Palczewski, three years after having been undrafted out of Illinois, signed a two-year contract extension as an impending restricted free agent that has a base value of $9.5 million and could be worth as much as $11 million with incentives. In an interview with The Denver Gazette, he discussed the decision he made in 2023 to sign with the Broncos.

“I got to choose where I wanted to go and this was the best decision of my life,” Palczewski said.

He quickly corrected himself.

“This was the second-best decision of my life besides proposing to my fiancée,” he said.

Palczewski proposed to Megan Cooney shortly after the end of training camp last year. Their wedding is scheduled to be held next year in Chicago, not far from the lineman’s native Mount Prospect, Ill., between mandatory minicamp and training camp.

As it turns out, March 5 will always be a big day for the couple.

“It was actually pretty funny,” Palczewski said. “It took like a week to hammer (the contract) out and then we finally agreed to it, and March 5 is Megan’s birthday, so I stole the lightning from her. We went out and we celebrated and we went to Casa Bonita.”

While dining at the famous Lakewood restaurant and watching the cliff divers, Palczewski was able to reflect on how far he has come.

“It’s awesome,” he said. “It’s been an unbelievable journey and just to be able to stay with what I truly think is the best organization in the NFL. It’s truly special for them to believe in me and to sign a two-year deal is a really special thing for me.

“It’s cool to see that if you don’t get drafted, it’s not like, ‘I guess your career is over and you’re cut after training camp.’ So it’s nice to be able to say, ‘Hey, you can make it. It doesn’t matter what anybody says.'”

It’s been a slow but steady climb for the 6-foot-6, 315-pound Palczewski since he played six seasons at Illinois and appeared in 65 games, starting 64, a record for a college offensive lineman. He didn’t play a single snap as a Denver rookie, spending all but the last game of the season on injured reserve.

In 2024, Palczewski was called into action in Week 3 at Tampa Bay after starting right tackle Mike McGlinchey suffered a knee injury in Week 2 and was placed on injured reserve. The guy they call “Palcho” ended up starting the first three games of his career at the spot and did well.

Last season, Palczewski started 10 games at left guard after Ben Powers went on injured reserve with a biceps injury and then was slowly worked back into the lineup. Palczewski told The Denver Gazette last year he hadn’t played on the left side of the line since “the Obama administration,” which is when he was a senior at Prospect High School in 2016.

“Palcho’s my guy, man,” said Broncos defensive tackle Malcolm Roach, entering his third Broncos season. “What he did for us last year was crazy. He stepped in and just did a phenomenal job. There was no drop-off. … I think Palcho is going to eventually be a starter for a long time in this league.”

All of Denver’s starting offensive linemen are back from last season, with Powers the only one entering the final year of his contract, so Palczewski isn’t in line now to start in 2026. But even when he doesn’t start, he has gotten plenty of notice in Denver.

In the first two home games last season, before he moved into the starting lineup, Palczewski was regularly inserted for Denver’s jumbo lineup when a sixth offensive lineman was used. Because the lineman becomes an eligible receiver, he must be introduced over the stadium loudspeaker. When it continued to be announced that No. 63 was eligible, the Broncos’ home fans began to cheer wildly.

“I wasn’t crazy about it,” Palczewski said. “You’re an O-lineman, man. You don’t really crave the attention. If I wanted the attention, I’d be like a D-lineman or a wide receiver.”

Palczewski wasn’t fully sure why the fans got so excited.

“Probably they felt a sense of pride that if this fat white guy is running out, maybe anybody can do it,” he said.

When the Broncos played Cincinnati on Monday Night Football in Week 4, which was their second home game, the cheers for Palczewski reached a fever pitch. Attending the game were the lineman’s parents, father Andrzej and mother Bozena, who both had immigrated from then-communist Poland to the Chicago area in the 1980s and only in recent years have fully grasped the rules of football.

“My parents were like, ‘What’s going on?'” Palczewski said of what he learned later. “My fiancée was like, ‘Yeah, just wait. It gets better.’ That game I had like three or four jumbo plays in a row and it was just hilarious.”

Palczewski was happy to move into the starting lineup and make way for the Denver fans to start cheering when No. 73, Frank Crum, began to enter the lineup as an eligible lineman.

“It was funny for a bit, but I’m happy Frank got that at the end (of the season),” Palczewski said. “I was like, ‘You take it.’ But I was ecstatic when he scored that touchdown.”

In a jumbo package, Crum caught a 7-yard touchdown pass from Bo Nix in the second quarter of Denver’s 33-30 overtime win over Buffalo in a divisional playoff game.

It remains to be seen if Palczewski will return in 2026 to his role as an eligible lineman and whether he will get more work at guard or tackle. In Thursday’s organized team activities practice at Broncos Park, he lined up at left guard. Afterward, head coach Sean Payton said he will be playing both positions.

“It’s wherever they need me,” Palczewski said. “If they need me to play water boy, I’ll do that.”

Palczewski is thrilled with how far he has come in football. He grew up speaking only Polish at home and still uses that language when talking to his parents, although they have long been fluent in English.

Being the son of Andrzej, a carpenter, and Bozena, a nurse, who for years knew nothing about football, Palczewski began to play the sport in the fourth grade. But at Prospect High School, he also wrestled and was a goalie on the water polo team. The big guy only played half of each game for two years because he stood in the shallow end of the pool and an accomplished swimmer took over goalie duties for the other half in the deep end, since teams rotated ends.

Palczewski didn’t emerge as a solid college prospect until his senior season, and he earned a scholarship to Illinois. The head coach for his final two seasons was Bret Bielema, who arrived in 2021 and remains in the role.

Bielema worked diligently to get Palczewski a sixth year of eligibility in 2022, with the lineman having gotten an extra one due to the 2020 coronavirus season and an extra one due to being bogged down by some injuries. Palczewski was ready to enter the NFL draft in 2022 before Bielema called him the day before he was playing in the Hula Bowl in Orlando, Fla., on Jan. 15, to inform him the NCAA had approved the additional season.

“He responded very quickly with a very positive remark, and I’m glad we did it,” Bielema said. “I don’t think he’d be where he is right now if we hadn’t.”

Bielema has been thrilled with the NFL development of Palczewski, who said “95 percent” of his decision to join the Broncos was due to their offensive line coach being longtime NFL tackle Zach Strief. In fact, Bielema has incorporated a 2024 quote from Payton into meetings he now has with players.

“There’s a slide I show,” Bielema said. “Actually, Coach Payton was talking about (Palczewski’s) first start in a press conference and he said he’s a really tough, smart player. And every meeting I start in my building, I begin with a slide that says, ‘Tough, Smart, Dependent. TSD.'”

“TSD” is Bielema’s motto at Illinois. Palczewski called it “pretty cool” that Bielema uses Payton’s quote in meetings.

Palczewski’s arrival started an Illinois to Broncos pipeline since Payton’s arrival in 2023. He’s been followed by wide receiver Pat Bryant, a 2025 third-round pick who caught 31 passes for 378 yards as a rookie, and safety Miles Scott, a seventh-round selection in the April draft.

“We knocked it out of the park last year with Pat Bryant and I think we’ll do the same with Miles,” said Palczewski, saying that all three of Denver’s former Illini players are “tough, smart and dependable.”

Asked who on Illinois’ roster could be the next player to possibly show up in Denver, Palczewski said he didn’t “want to give other teams any ideas.” But he vowed with the Broncos’ brass, he will “be in their ears this next offseason” suggesting Illini players.

Palczewski has been offering recruiting suggestions to Bielema. When he heard in May that the Illini were looking at Nate Cichy, a receiver from Prospect High School, Palczewski texted the head coach to recommend the player, who eventually did commit to Illinois.

“That’s Palcho,” Bielema said. “He’s super prideful.”

He’s also now locked up by the Broncos through the 2027 season, when Palczewski could become a starter if Powers isn’t back then. That could cast more light on the second-best decision of his life.