The Denver Broncos made a somewhat surprising midseason move, waiving linebacker/special teamer Kasim Edebali with no follow-up move…
The Denver Broncos made somewhat of a surprising roster move on Tuesday, waiving veteran outside linebacker/special teamer Kasim Edebali and making no corresponding roster move, at least for the time being.
The move to waive Edebali came shortly after it was announced the Broncos had also lost running back Jonathan Williams off their practice squad, ironically to Edebali’s former team the New Orleans Saints.
Edebali signed a one-year, $1.2 million contract with the Broncos in the offseason, a decent amount of cash given to a guy that had never really been anything more than a special teams guy prior to coming to Denver.
As it turns out, that is pretty much exactly what Edebali was signed to come in and do — play special teams.
While Edebali played less than 10 percent of the defensive snaps in his time for the Broncos, he was one of only five players to have played at least 60 percent of the special teams plays.
For that reason, this move is a bit odd, especially this late in the season.
You’d hate to think of Edebali as a ‘fall guy’ for the woes the Broncos have had recently on special teams, but perhaps this was a way they decided to send a message to the rest of the players on the team.
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Certainly, at least from what we heard publicly, special teams coordinator Brock Olivo hasn’t really been held accountable to the team’s horrid performances on special teams lately. We do know that Vance Joseph still believes in Brock as a coordinator, which he made very clear on Monday, and I can respect that. He’s standing up for a key member of the coaching staff that he hired, and putting it on the players to execute.
It’s a very interesting dynamic going on in Denver right now between the coaches and the players. According to Mike Klis, Edebali was a good locker room guy. To what degree? I have no clue.
It’s just an odd move for a team that apparently has a struggling locker room to get rid of a guy who was a strong presence in the locker room, even if he wasn’t contributing as much as he could or should have.
We’ll keep you updated on a corresponding roster move, as well as whatever the Broncos do to fill their practice squad spot that is now open.