Denver Broncos: Get to know Malik Carney, Tyvis Powell

The Denver Broncos reportedly signed OLB Malik Carney and S Tyvis Powell to their practice squad. We get to know both players.

After promoting quarterback Brett Rypien and linebacker Josh Watson off the practice squad two weeks ago, the Denver Broncos have filled their vacancies on the practice team by signing edge rusher Malik Carney and safety Tyvis Powell.

Mike Klis initially reported Carney’s signing and Nicki Jhabvala was the first to report the Powell signing.

Obviously, neither of these guys are coming in to make an immediate impact, but you never know what we could see from these guys down the road. Let’s take a look at both players and what they bring to the table.

Malik Carney, OLB

Carney finished his career with the North Carolina Tar Heels in 2018 with 176 total tackles, 32.5 tackles for loss, 17 sacks, and a very impressive nine forced fumbles.

His NFL comparison coming out of college from NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein was old friend Shaquil Barrett.

Carney competed in preseason play with the Detroit Lions, and finished with nine tackles there before he was let go.

He’s definitely built a lot like Shaquil Barrett, but didn’t have quite the sack production in college that Barrett had. Still, Carney was productive for the Tar Heels for four seasons, and proved his worth as a special teams player as well as a three-down edge player.

His pass rush skills look unspectacular, even in a highlight reel, but he’s Johnny on the spot in some of those plays and obviously nine forced fumbles is hard to do if you’re not capable of consistently getting to the quarterback.

It will be fun to see if anything comes from this.

Tyvis Powell, S

The former Ohio State star was an undrafted free agent of the Seattle Seahawks back in 2016, and despite having to spend a lot of his pro money on moving from city to city, Powell has stuck around for the last four seasons and continues to get opportunities.

Here are the teams that have employed Powell in his career:

• Seattle Seahawks
• Cleveland Browns
• Indianapolis Colts
• San Francisco 49ers
• New York Jets
• Houston Texans
• Dallas Cowboys

And now the Denver Broncos, his eighth team.

Powell is an intriguing blend of size (6-foot-3, 210 pounds) and speed (4.43 in the 40-yard dash) at the safety position, and he’s also played some games at the NFL level. He’s played 18 regular-season games, to be exact, and seven of those last season with the San Francisco 49ers, including a start.

He’s played some special teams in his career and could be an option in case the Broncos suffer some injuries in the defensive backfield down the stretch.