Broncos steal a player back from the Eagles ahead of matchup
The Denver Broncos lost young cornerback Mac McCain early this season to the Eagles, but they just stole him back off of waivers.
Denver Broncos general manager George Paton has been playing some serious chess lately. And when I say Paton is playing chess, I mean that other executives seem to be playing checkers.
When the Broncos were in the midst of a four-game losing streak, the additions made over the course of the last year did not seem to be going all that well. Then, Paton went and made a couple of trades for edge defender Stephen Weatherly and Kenny Young ahead of the team’s matchup against Washington, followed by the trade of Von Miller to the Los Angeles Rams for second-and third-round draft choices.
Suddenly the Broncos have won two straight games, are 5-4, and Paton’s roster moves are much more appealing.
Broncos steal a player back from the Eagles ahead of matchup
Just ahead of the matchup against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday (in Denver), the Broncos stole back one of the prospects they liked in the 2021 rookie class who had a solid camp and preseason with the team, cornerback Mac McCain.
The Eagles placed McCain on the waiver wire in hopes that they would be able to re-sign him to their practice squad, but they should have known that George Paton would steal him right back.
McCain initially passed through waivers and onto the Broncos’ practice squad, but he signed with the Eagles before the start of the 2021 regular season and no one could blame him for taking an opportunity to get onto a team’s active roster.
He appeared in one game and 13 special teams snaps for the Eagles before hitting the waiver wire on November 9, and the Broncos scooped him right back up as the team has had some injuries at the cornerback position in recent weeks.
Not to mention, they also traded seventh-round pick Kary Vincent Jr. to Philadelphia for a 6th-round pick in the 2022 NFL Draft.
Obviously, it wasn’t as though McCain had done so much in camp and preseason that the Broncos sacrificed in other areas to keep him on the initial 53-man roster, but he certainly showed traits worth developing at the cornerback position.
The Eagles clearly had a thing for some of the DBs the Broncos brought in this offseason.
Now that McCain is back in Denver, perhaps he can provide some intel about the team’s opponent as they head into the bye week.
Not only did the Broncos bring in McCain, but they also signed offensive tackle Casey Tucker to the practice squad. Tucker spent time with the Eagles this season as well.
Every little advantage helps, I guess.
Ultimately, the road to getting McCain back into the fold in Denver was a little different than initially planned. He has outstanding speed at the position and showed at North Carolina A&T some tremendous ball skills and playmaking ability.
Projecting to the next level as a potential inside-outside corner, McCain is a nice developmental prospect and it’s great that the Broncos were able to get him back after trading away the rookie corner they kept instead, Kary Vincent Jr.
The team made the choice to let go of Duke Dawson on Tuesday, but they were able to sign him back to the practice squad on Wednesday so Paton stole back McCain and managed to keep Dawson around without using a 53-man roster spot on both guys.