The Denver Broncos may have a ton of players on the roster bubble. Are these three players at risk of not making the team in the 2025 NFL Season? Part of building a winning NFL team is being able to make tough roster decisions and bring in the right players.
The team made a ton of progress in the 2024 NFL Season, going 10-7 and making the playoffs. However, this was a case of the 'little engine that could,' and this engine ran out of gas. The hope is that the team shores up the rest of their needs in the 2025 NFL Draft.
And this could push a few players off the roster, but who are they?
3 Denver Broncos players who (maybe) won't make the 53-man roster
Jaleel McLaughlin, RB
Jaleel McLaughlin just doesn't appear to be close to a 'joker' type of player on the Denver Broncos offense. Through two years in the NFL, he's not been able to hit 500 rushing yards in a season, and he's never had more than 160 receiving yards in a season.
And from 2023 to 2024, his receiving yardage total dipped from 160 to 76. At this point, the Denver Broncos can probably find the same or even better production from a different RB in the middle of the 2025 NFL Draft, and it is a guarantee at this point that Denver drafts a running back. With Audric Estime younger and a more complete RB, the Broncos could elect to trot out a RB room that features a rookie, Estime, and perhaps one of Tyler Badie or Blake Watson.
Jaleel McLaughlin might soon see his role on the Denver Broncos become quite redundant.
Damarri Mathis, CB
Damarri Mathis has really turned into an afterthought for the Denver Broncos, especially with the emergence of Riley Moss. Heck, when you consider Moss, Patrick Surtain II, Ja'Quan McMillian, and Kris Abrams-Draine, Mathis might be the fifth-best CB on the roster.
Denver could simply draft a cornerback at some point in the 2025 NFL Draft, and that player might be able to bump Mathis off the roster. This is his fourth year of his rookie contract as well, so there also could be a shot that Denver entertains some type of trade offer for the player.
Eyioma Uwazurike, DE
Playing in just 63 defensive snaps across four games in the 2024 NFL Season, Eyioma Uwazurike could easily be replaced by a late-free agency addition or even a young DL prospect that the Denver Broncos want to take in the 2025 NFL Draft.
He was suspended for the 2023 NFL Season for some gambling violations, so that could have had something to do with any sort of development he could have had with the Broncos during that season. There just isn't much more to say here - he's a 'whatever' rotational player, and the Broncos might elect to get a different prospect on the roster to take his place.