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.
Denver Broncos initial cuts takeaway no. 2: The safety position and Jamar Johnson’s early departure
For the last year, it has felt like Jamar Johnson’s spot on the roster was in jeopardy. The Broncos drafted Johnson as one of two safeties picked in the fifth round of the 2021 NFL Draft along with Caden Sterns. Sterns ended up having a great rookie season for the Broncos and is once again a factor in the team’s plans for 2022.
Unlike a year ago at this time, though, fellow former Texas Longhorns defensive back PJ Locke has really emerged in a versatile role for the defense, playing some safety and some nickel while also playing on special teams. Because of Locke’s emergence, the top four safety positions in Denver are set.
Jamar Johnson needed a big offseason to beat out players like JR Reed and 2022 fifth-round pick Delarrin Turner-Yell for a spot, and he couldn’t make it happen. We don’t see everything in practice, but based on the fact that he racked up seven tackles against the Dallas Cowboys in Week 1 of the preseason, Johnson’s early dismissal from the roster is rather surprising.
There were a lot of people who really liked Johnson and his ball skills coming out of Indiana last year, but ironically, it might be his lack of aggression to make a play on the ball against Dallas that could have been the final confirmation the Broncos needed to let him go.
The Broncos have to be pleased with the game they saw from JR Reed against the Cowboys, and Reed’s name has popped up pretty consistently throughout the offseason in training camp updates as well.
Delarrin Turner-Yell has the benefit of being a more recent draft pick even though he was also a fifth-round pick like Johnson was.
The Broncos are proving that there isn’t much room for error if you want to make this roster. It’s not easy for general manager George Paton to part ways with a recent fifth-round pick for nothing in return, especially when he was able to recoup a sixth-rounder in a trade involving 2021 seventh-round pick Kary Vincent Jr. last year. With that being said, Johnson was playing at a loaded position and the Broncos maybe felt like the final two preseason games were an opportunity to put JR Reed and Delarrin Turner-Yell in the starting lineup and let them battle it out for roster positioning.
Whatever the case, it’s clear that Paton is not messing around, even when it comes to draft status, with building the best possible roster in Denver.
Denver Broncos initial cuts takeaway no. 3: Waves made at wide receiver
After the injury to Tim Patrick, I think everyone was fascinated to see how things would shake out on the roster and depth chart overall. Losing Patrick was huge for the Broncos because Patrick was expected to be one of the team’s top three receivers this year as they eased KJ Hamler back into action following his horrendous injuries in 2021.
With Patrick out for the season, players have certainly stepped up in his absence, seemingly on a day-to-day basis at Broncos training camp. Then, all of the potential in-house candidates to “replace” Patrick seemingly had breakthrough games against the Cowboys in Week 1 of the preseason.
There’s no doubt that the team has four players who are “locks” for the roster at this point:
- Courtland Sutton
- Jerry Jeudy
- KJ Hamler
- Montrell Washington
The rookie fifth-round pick out of Samford has had arguably as big of a camp as anyone on the offensive side of the ball, and he showed out in the preseason with 45 yards on two punt returns.
Behind those four, though, who are the Broncos keeping around?
Tyrie Cleveland has been injured for most of training camp, and although he’s a key special teams player, you can’t help but wonder if he’s going to be more in line for a practice squad position than anything else at this point. I could be dead wrong about that and the team values him way more highly than I think, but other guys are out there on the field making plays while Cleveland is on the mend from a bizarre throat injury suffered in training camp.
Here are the receivers remaining on the Broncos’ roster (besides Cleveland) after the first wave of cuts saw Kaden Davis and Travis Fulgham let go by the team:
- Trey Quinn
- Darrius Shepherd
- Kendall Hinton
- Brandon Johnson
- Jalen Virgil
- Seth Williams
If the Broncos have two or three receiver spots remaining on the roster, how in the world are they going to choose from this group? I think at this point it’s tough to see Hinton, Johnson, Virgil, or Williams being let go after the next wave of cuts. In my opinion, the Broncos might now be in a spot where they have to keep seven receivers on the 53-man roster because of how they approached “replacing” Tim Patrick.
The team’s decision to replace Tim Patrick with in-house players is indicative of their confidence in those players. If they’re confident in those guys, and given the importance of the wide receiver position as a whole, how could they justify cutting all but two of the aforementioned players?
Especially if some of these players can help you on special teams, I think you have to keep seven receivers. You can’t decide that you’re going to replace Tim Patrick with in-house candidates and then subject some of the best candidates to the waiver wire when there are a bunch of wide receiver-needy teams around the league.
To me, the Broncos’ decision to cut Kaden Davis — who made an impression as the first guy out to training camp every day he was on the team — as well as Travis Fulgham who has NFL experience and made some noise at OTAs, shows very clearly that this team knows which guys it wants to keep around on the active roster and practice squad.
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They might have to take a bit of a risk getting one or two guys to the practice squad, such as Tyrie Cleveland, Seth Williams, and Jalen Virgil, but I think as of right now, you’ve got to protect yourself at a key position where depth was a major issue in 2021 and keep seven guys on the 53-man roster.