Which Denver Broncos players were a little disappointing in the team’s preseason victory over the Minnesota Vikings? We break down five of them.
The Denver Broncos were tremendous in their first preseason game of 2021 against the Minnesota Vikings. From the very start of the game, the Broncos dominated in all phases of the game.
The homecoming for general manager George Paton included a brilliant performance from quarterback Drew Lock, a very good showing from Teddy Bridgewater, and an awesome debut for Patrick Surtain II.
I am not a negative person by any means, but we have to cover all angles of the game. Just understand that there is plenty of time for these players to get back on the saddle, and some of them will or at least might.
Which players were the most disappointing in this preseason matchup against the Minnesota Vikings? For a number of these guys, we’re having to split hairs because the team played so well as a whole. Here are five that need to be better going forward.
1. Tyrie Cleveland, WR
Unfortunately, this is the second straight “disappointing” list that Cleveland has landed on.
The former seventh-round pick showed a lot of promise as a rookie and was known coming out of Florida as one of the best special teams players in the draft.
He has been the unquestioned favorite to land the WR5 position on the roster, but there has since been some extremely potent contention for that job.
Not only is Trinity Benson likely guaranteed a roster spot at this point, but Kendall Hinton has been singled out as having an outstanding offseason.
Cleveland struggled with drops in training camp, then got hurt, but was able to come back for Vikings week.
In the game against Minnesota, he took a kickoff return just 16 yards, the shortest on the day for the Broncos, and just didn’t look as explosive as we’ve come to expect.
He couldn’t reel in his only pass target and had a modest six-yard gain on a designed run play to him.
There are still high hopes for Tyrie Cleveland. Perhaps he was feeling some lingering effects of his injury, so we’ll take it with a grain of salt. But we need to see better from him with such stout competition at the position.
2. Josh Watson & Peter Kalambayi, ILB
With starters Alexander Johnson and Josey Jewell not playing in this game, it was a tremendous opportunity for the reserve off-ball linebackers to make their case for the 53-man roster.
As much as the Denver Broncos plan on using the dime package this year, we could see fewer off-ball linebackers make the final roster anyway, but we’re going to need to see better efforts from the guys fighting for jobs in the near future.
Although second-year player Justin Strnad really flashed in this game and showed why he is a definite contender for playing time, Josh Watson and Peter Kalambayi showed some reasons why they are on the roster bubble.
Watson at least had a solid play in coverage in this game, but also had a massive whiff in the running game and wasn’t fitting his run lanes consistently.
Peter Kalambayi had a chance to really put himself on the map by picking off a pass that was deflected into the air by Patrick Surtain II, but the ball went right through his arms and safely hit the ground.
Those are opportunities you simply cannot miss.
As much as these guys played, it is slightly disappointing that they combined for only two tackles and zero tackles for loss. The young safeties PJ Locke and Caden Sterns looked better in run support than these two linebackers.
3. Brett Rypien, QB
Ultimately, if the Denver Broncos end up needing Brett Rypien to play in 2021, the season should just be written off anyway.
Nothing against Rypien, but he’s clearly not in the competition or on the same level as Drew Lock and Teddy Bridgewater at that point.
With that being said, this is Rypien’s third season with the Denver Broncos. He did get a start in 2020 and looked pretty solid for a good chunk of it.
Given his experience and time in the league, it’s not unreasonable to expect Rypien to be out there tearing it up against some of the Vikings’ future practice squad additions.
These are still NFL guys he’s competing against, but Rypien finished with a disappointing 2-of-7 passing for just 24 yards. One of his best throws on the day was a well-placed deep ball to Branden Mack that was simply not reeled in.
Even considering that solid throw, Rypien’s very next pass was way behind the receiver on a simple slant pattern.
At this point, Rypien should be expected to be a consistent performer against fellow third-string guys, and he simply didn’t have the juice against Minnesota. The Broncos didn’t punt the ball a single time until Rypien entered the game, at which point the scoring stopped and the punts started coming.
4. LeVante Bellamy, RB
You can’t fault a player for getting injured, which LeVante Bellamy, unfortunately, did during the game against the Vikings.
The former undrafted free agent has been surpassed on the depth chart for the Denver Broncos by Damarea Crockett and Crockett was dominating carries in this game against Minnesota.
Bellamy had a really nice kickoff return to open the second half that went 62 yards, so that was a huge plus for him, but as a runner, he wasn’t finding much room.
He finished with four carries for two yards on the day.
As important as preseason games are for roster bubble running backs, you’ve got to show better than that.
Since Mike Boone suffered an injury during the joint practices, the opportunity has been presented for someone to really step up and possibly still allow the Denver Broncos to shop Royce Freeman in a trade.
At this point, it’s clear that Crockett has made a much stronger case than Bellamy, who now has to deal with whatever injury he suffered against the Vikings.
5. Reserve interior defensive linemen
It wasn’t all bad for the Denver Broncos’ run defense in this game, but for the most part, the backup interior defensive linemen seemed to get pushed around in that phase.
There were times the Vikings just leaned on the running game in the third quarter and chipped away down the field.
Vikings running back AJ Rose looked like a star in the game with 25 rushing attempts for 100 yards as well as an 18-yard reception.
There were times when players like Jonathan Harris were absolutely blown off the line when the ball was snapped.
This is not a major concern and as I stated, there were some nice plays for the Broncos in the run like a nice run stop from rookie free agent Lorenzo Neal Jr.
It’s still hard to believe he’s playing for the Broncos right now, by the way.
If players like Jonathan Harris and Isaiah Mack want to make this roster or have a shot at being on the practice squad, they’ve got to play with better strength at the point of attack and get better leverage in the running game.
There were no tackles for loss from the guys fighting for roster spots here, nor were there any sacks.
Overall, however, it’s really difficult to be actually “upset” over anything we saw in this first preseason game from the Denver Broncos.
There’s not much to be truly disappointed about even though plenty of improvements can still be made.
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