The Denver Broncos made their initial wave of five roster cuts from 90 to 85 players. What surprises did we see among the cuts? It’s not typical to see surprises in the initial cut wave. The unfortunate reality of having a 90-man roster in the NFL is that there is typically some low-hanging fruit teams will let go of during this cut period.
For the Denver Broncos, however, I would say we did get some surprises and definitely some intriguing players let go already.
Teams will go from 85 to 80 players after the second preseason game, and then from 80 to 53 players with a 16-player practice squad after the third preseason game. There are plenty of moves yet to be made but the Broncos made their first five cuts on Tuesday:
- WR Kaden Davis
- WR Travis Fulgham
- S Jamar Johnson
- RB Max Borghi
- TE Rodney Williams
What can we take away from these five moves?
Denver Broncos initial cuts takeaway no. 1: Young RBs need to show something
In recent weeks, the Denver Broncos have made a handful of minor moves at the running back position, signing a variety of tryout players. Among the tryout players the team signed was rookie free agent and former Colorado high school star Max Borghi. The ink is still drying on the deal Borghi signed to join the Broncos and the team let him go in the first wave of cuts after an unimpressive preseason debut.
Borghi hadn’t even been with the team two weeks by the time he was among the initial wave of roster cuts but it just goes to show that the Broncos are searching for someone to be this year’s version of Damarea Crockett — someone who can go out there and impress as a runner in the preseason as well as make an impact on special teams.
Borghi had a clear opportunity to make one of the biggest runs of the night for the Broncos in an otherwise dismal performance by the running game, and he simply missed the hole that was presented to him completely. If you’re a running back lacking vision in the zone blocking scheme, you’re not going to last long.
The Broncos do still have a couple of backs we should see plenty of in the final two preseason games. JaQuan Hardy and Stevie Scott both had better games than Borghi against Dallas and both have stuck around for another week here. We’ll see if either of those two guys can take advantage or if the Broncos will have to poach a back from someone else to add to the practice squad later on.