Clady will be honored by the current Broncos team that still includes several of his former teammates following practice Saturday.

Ryan Clady, a soft-spoken man with enormous size, and remarkable agility who became one of the best offensive linemen in Denver Broncos' history, will unofficially retire as a Bronco in a ceremony this weekend.

Clady will be honored by the current Broncos team that still includes several of his former teammates following practice Saturday. He will then serve as the Broncos' honorary captain for their game Sunday against the Kansas City Chiefs. A video tribute featuring Clady's play will be shown during the first quarter.

“Patrick Smyth called me a little over a week ago and said the Broncos wanted to bring me out and honor me and wanted me to retire a Bronco, essentially,'' Clady said of the team's public relations boss in a phone interview Thursday with 9News. “I was a bit surprised. But I'm definitely honored to come back and be recognized, see some of my former teammate and a lot of my friends still live there in Denver. It'll be a good time.''

It's a little tricky for a player to sign a one-day contract and retire with his former team because a corresponding roster move must be made. But the Broncos will send a letter to the league office marking Clady's career with the team.

"Well deserved,'' said Broncos center Matt Paradis. "He was a special player here. I know Denver's a special place to him and I'm glad to see come back and be honored and be recognized.''

"He didn't talk much but we became friends as the years went on,'' said Broncos receiver Demaryius Thomas. "And the work he put in on the field and off the field, he was the best offensive linemen I've seen come through here with the Denver Broncos and I've been here eight years.''

Had it not been for injuries that essentially reduced his body of work to six full healthy seasons in the nine he played, Clady likely would have been on his way to a Pro Football Hall of Fame career. As it was, Clady and center Tom Nalen are the only Broncos' offensive linemen who were twice selected to the NFL's first-team All Pro team. And only Nalen, with five, had more Pro Bowl appearances than Clady's four among Broncos' blockers.

At 6-foot-6, 309 pounds, Clady had the size, talent and work ethic to finish up as one of the top five pass protectors in NFL history. If only he had a little more luck.

After playing 80 consecutive games through his first five seasons, Clady suffered season-ending injuries in the Broncos' two Super Bowl runs of 2013 and 2015. He was sidelined with a foot injury in the second game of Peyton Manning's historic passing season of 2013, and tore an ACL on the first day of minicamp and missed the Broncos' entire Super Bowl 50 season of 2015.

“Looking at it now that I'm done, I was blessed to go to those Pro Bowls and have the success I had in the league,'' Clady said. “At the time, it was frustrating. After the first five years it became realistic that I had the potential to be a Hall of Famer, or at least play 12 years or so and be on the cusp of that.

“In the heat of the moment, it was a little disappointing and frustrating with the injuries, but looking back on it now, I couldn't ask for more.''

The Broncos tried to bring Clady back on a pay cut last year, but we wound up signing with the New York Jets and played nine games before he suffered a shoulder injury that required surgery.

“There was wear and tear in there and then I really hurt it in the third game last year,'' Clady said. “And then I really hurt it. When I woke up from surgery and the way it felt, I said, man, I'm done.''

His career was extraordinary given he didn't really playifootball growing up.

“I played once when I was 10 and I'll be honest with you, I didn't really like it,'' Clady said. “I wasn't good at it and I had to lose a bunch of weight just to play. It was brutal. I didn't play again until sophomore in high school and then it was all she wrote after that.''

As it turns out, Clady had another calling in his youth. The oldest of four children, Clady from the time he was in eighth grade had to help his father Ross raise his siblings after his mom Sharon died suddenly of a heart attack at 53 years young.

“It happened fast,'' Clady said. “I think she definitely would be proud. I think about her a lot in December, around Christmas and her birthday was the 16th.''

Clady was a defensive lineman at Eisenhower High school in Rialto, Calif., but he played left tackle for Dan Hawkins at Boise State.

After his junior year, Broncos head coach Mike Shanahan made one of the shrewdest draft picks in franchise history when he selected Clady with the No. 12 overall pick instead of two other highly regarded tackles, Chris Williams, who went No. 14 to Chicago, and Branden Albert, who went No. 15 to Kansas City.

Clady is tied with Marv Montgomery as the highest-drafted Broncos' offensive lineman who played with the team. Chris Hinton was the No. 4 overall selection in the 1983 draft but never played for the Broncos as he was traded six days later for a quarterback named John Elway.

Clady had the longest arms at the 2008 scouting combine at 36 ¾ inches long. By comparison, Cleveland's Joe Thomas, who is widely considered the best left tackle of the 21st century, had 32 ½ inch arms – more than 4 inches shorter than Clady's reach.

But it was Clady's quick feet that drew Shanahan's attention.

“It was mostly God given,'' Clady said. “But also playing basketball growing up in our area, I was always the biggest guy and I had to guard all these guys smaller than me who were athletic and could really move.''

The highlights of Clady's career with the Broncos?

“One of the best was that first year with Peyton,'' Clady said, referring to the 2012 season when the Broncos finished with 11 consecutive wins. “It started off kind of rocky but then that turned out to be a fun year.

“And then playing with (Tim) Tebow, that was fun because we weren't supposed to get to the playoffs and then we definitely weren't supposed to beat Pittsburgh. I didn't know the line but I know we were definitely a big underdog.''

The Broncos were 8-point home underdogs in the first round of the 2011-season AFC playoffs but wound up stunning the Steelers in overtime. Not known for his run blocking, Clady proved his all-around talent that season when he helped Tebow, running back Willis McGahee and the Broncos' offense lead the NFL in rushing.

“You're going to get a lot better at run blocking when you're doing it 40, 50 times a game,'' Clady said. “That was one of the better lines we had and I think that was a big reason Peyton came. We were playing very well that year as an offensive front.''

Clady is a shy, quiet type unless he gets to know you. And then he can be warm and gregarious. Since retiring, Clady and his girlfriend had a child in March. He has been playing a lot of golf and he wants to get more involved in real estate. He bought some apartments in Long Beach back in 2010.

He has a cousin, A.J. Kemp, who's a high school freshman and already near Clady-sized.

“I'd like to work with him so he can at least get a free education,'' Clady said, laughing.

He still follows the Broncos and feels for some of his former teammates who are enduring a difficult season. He will arrive Friday night and go to dinner with former offensive linemates Ryan Harris and Orlando Franklin, who still live in the Denver area.

And then the Broncos will honor him Saturday and Sunday.