5 mistakes the Denver Broncos made with their final 53-man roster

Denver Broncos roster mistake no. 2: Construction of WR

After Tim Patrick went down with a season-ending knee injury, the Denver Broncos went with a relatively conservative approach to “replacing” him. There’s nothing wrong with allowing the guys you already have on the roster to step up in place of a key starter…if you have the guys. To me, it’s very difficult for the Denver Broncos to justify the “next man up” approach at receiver when an injury occurs during training camp.

There are other major factors at play here as well. Of course, you don’t expect injuries, but you have to be ready for them. Courtland Sutton suffered a season-ending knee injury in 2020. KJ Hamler suffered a season ending knee/hip injury in 2021. Jerry Jeudy missed a bunch of games in 2021 with an ankle injury. The Broncos have experienced the war on attrition at receiver and the only additions to the unit in 2022 are two rookies: Fifth-round pick Montrell Washington and undrafted free agent Jalen Virgil, who both made the roster.

Not only that, but the Broncos also kept Tyrie Cleveland on the roster after he missed training camp and the preseason with a broken throat. Cleveland has been one of special teams coordinator Dwayne Stukes’ guys and his special teams ability earned him a roster spot over guys who went out and made plays in the preseason like Seth Williams and Kendall Hinton.

It’s very exciting to have two rookies make the 53-man roster at a position group where it seemed like spots would be very hard to come by, but it’s also slightly concerning because of how crucial this position group is. To me, the Broncos have left themselves a little too inexperienced at a position where you’ve already lost arguably your most consistent and proven guy over the last two seasons.