Look, no roster in the NFL is perfect, which is fine. No one player is perfect, but it's baffling that these three Denver Broncos made the 53-man roster. There really could be a plethora of reasons why a player makes a 53-man roster. Across the NFL, hundreds of cuts were made over the last week or so as teams cut their rosters down from 90 to 53.
Now, about 99% of rosters in the NFL are set in stone for the start of the 2023 NFL season, which surely promises to be a fun one. The Denver Broncos sit right in the middle of a loaded AFC, so they'll have to likely rely on strong coaching and overall discipline to win games in 2023. The Broncos do have a talented roster, though.
However, even with the team having a talented roster, there are some players who probably did not deserve to make the team. Let's cover three of them.
3 Denver Broncos who did not deserve to make the 53-man roster
1. Kareem Jackson, S
I'm sorry, but what is the allure with Kareem Jackson at this point? He's simply not good anymore, and not only did he not deserve to make the roster, but I'm genuinely afraid that Denver will trot him out on the field ahead of Caden Sterns for week one and beyond. Jackson has severely lost a step and is not the safety he once was when he came to Denver in 2019.
The 35-year-old veteran should have been cut, or, alternatively, perhaps should have taken some sort of coaching intern role to at least remain with the organization. There's also the fact that Denver has a ton of young talent at safety in Sterns, JL Skinner, and Delarrin Turner-Yell. Jackson may end up cutting into their development if he is going to be viewed ahead of them on the depth chart.
I think Jackson might play best as more of a linebacker hybrid type, playing closer to the line of scrimmage and far away from the secondary, as he cannot cover much anymore.
2. Will Lutz, K
While I think Will Lutz will be just fine for the Denver Broncos, he didn't do much at all to deserve a roster spot on the Denver Broncos. What Will Lutz did was play for Sean Payton, and that's really it. He hasn't been all that efficient the past few seasons, and Brett Maher, who was with the Broncos for a while this offseason, has been a much more efficient kicker over the last few years.
In their last two years, Will Lutz has gone 46/59 on field goals, for a lowly 77.9%. Brett Maher, on the other hand, has gone 45/50, for an efficient 90%. The decision to not only cut Maher but to trade a stinking draft pick for Will Lutz was a horrible decision from Sean Payton. I guess Payton is trying to recreate what he had in New Orleans in the recent past, which is fine I suppose.
To be fair to Lutz, he has been an efficient kicker in the NFL. From 2016-2019, Will Lutz made 119/136 field goals, which is an excellent 87.5%. If the Denver Broncos can get that type of production from Lutz, then their kicking situation is in good hands, but even still, Maher has made a higher percentage of his kicks over the last two years than Lutz ever has.
Hopefully, Lutz being another year removed from his core muscle injury allows him to kick better. If not, the Denver Broncos will be in some trouble yet again with their special teams unit.
3. Luke Wattenberg, OL
I'm sorry, but what exactly did Luke Wattenberg do this offseason? In my view, he had a terrible second-year offseason for the Denver Broncos and was dreadfully bad during his 2022 rookie season, where he played in seven games and started one of them. He was a fifth-round pick in 2022 and has played like one so far.
He was also given a roster spot over Kyle Fuller, a journeyman offensive lineman who came with 51 games of experience. In my view, Fuller was a much better and more reliable option than Wattenberg, who cracks the 53-man roster. Perhaps the Denver Broncos think they can develop him under first-year OL coach and former Sean Payton draft pick, Zach Strief.
Strief played 168 total games in the NFL and played both guard and tackle. At his peak, he was very, very good and clearly has the trust of Sean Payton, for whom in played from 2006-2017. Strief is probably already a better OL coach than Butch Barry, simply because he isn't Butch Barry, but the Broncos' OL was just OK during the preseason.
What I will say is that on paper, Denver's OL is one of the most talented in the NFL. It's not often you see an NFL team that has two above-average tackles and two above-average guards. I still think the center spot is a question mark with Lloyd Cushenberry. Perhaps the Broncos should sign Ben Jones, who we have mentioned on this website countless times.
Anyway, I guess with the uncertainty with the fourth-year Cush, keeping a young center in Wattenberg on the roster could make sense, but I don't think he played well enough to earn a spot.