The Denver Broncos have less than one week to decide on their final 53-man roster. Assuming no one is traded, what could the team look like week one?
The Denver Broncos have just one preseason game remaining in 2021 against the Los Angeles Rams, and it will be the first time in a very long time that fans of the team will be able to be at the stadium, in person, watching the Denver Broncos play football. Preseason or not, quarterback battle or not, that is going to be an electric atmosphere.
The Denver Broncos have probably got a pretty good idea at this point of which players will make up the majority of their 53-man roster. The 80 current players on the team should make up the majority of the 79 total players that are allowed on the roster at any given time with 16 practice squad spots.
Of those 16 practice squad spots, teams are allowed to carry up to six guys with basically vested veteran status, which hasn’t always been the case.
The Broncos could also carry some players onto the initial 53-man roster and then make some procedural moves to place them on short-term IR, possibly with guys like Michael Ojemudia who is expected to miss up to six weeks with a hamstring injury.
For the time being, we should have a pretty good idea of a majority of the 53 players the Denver Broncos want to keep. Let’s look through the roster and some of the latest rumors floating around…
Denver Broncos latest 53-man roster predictions and rumors
Quarterbacks – 2 (2/53)
- Drew Lock
- Teddy Bridgewater
This would obviously mean the team saying goodbye, at least temporarily, to Brett Rypien. Rypien has been solid for the team and even made some really nice plays in spot duty during the 2020 season. He seems to be the quintessential long-term backup option and is a good guy to have in the quarterback room regardless of whether he’s on the 53-man roster or practice squad.
With a 16-player practice squad, Rypien is an ideal candidate to take one of those spots.
The bigger question here is whether the Broncos will be starting Drew Lock or Teddy Bridgewater, something we still don’t know with just over two weeks before the start of the NFL’s regular season.
Specialists – 3 (5/53)
- Brandon McManus (K)
- Sam Martin (P)
- Jacob Bobenmoyer (LS)
There are no surprises here as the Denver Broncos didn’t have any competition at training camp for any of these players.
They’ll all be expected to be among the best at their positions in 2021 as a result of that.