The Denver Broncos had to cut down their roster from 80 players all the way to 53 by Tuesday afternoon, along with the rest of the NFL teams. Although this is a tough day for hundreds of players around the league (over 800 roster moves are made by the time final cuts are due league-wide), it’s also a day of potential new beginnings for many players. For others, these moves are merely procedural to get guys to the practice squad.
Still, although you tend to go into final roster cuts expecting pretty much anything, there are still some moves that will take you by surprise. The Denver Broncos made a handful of moves that certainly caught a lot of fans and those that cover the team off guard. What were the top three biggest surprises as the Broncos cut down the roster to 53? Let’s take a look.
Denver Broncos biggest surprise roster cuts in 2022: Kendall Hinton, WR
There’s no doubt that Kendall Hinton being waived at final roster cuts was a huge shock, arguably the biggest shock of any move the Broncos made thus far. Hinton has received a ton of positive hype this offseason from the coaches and even quarterback Russell Wilson, but he also followed that up with some dazzling plays in the preseason. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough.
It would be great to see Hinton back on waivers as has been suggested by a number of people, but at this point, is he even going to make it through? He’s shown quite a bit of improvement as a route runner and we saw in that Cowboys preseason game that there’s a little more to Hinton than meets the eye when it comes to making contested catches and bringing the ball in at its highest point.
Hinton wasn’t alone at the wide receiver position, either. Joining him among the “surprise” cuts for the Broncos were Seth Williams and Brandon Johnson. The Broncos couldn’t keep everybody at receiver, but they obviously weren’t overly thrilled with the players that stepped up in Tim Patrick’s absence in-house.