3 former Broncos players still unemployed as OTAs arrive in 2024

3. Mike Purcell, defensive line

Mike Purcell was a really cool story for the Denver Broncos a couple of years ago, coming up from a defunct professional league where he put some decent stuff on tape, earning a spot on the Broncos' 90-man roster.

At that point, Purcell had a connection to former Broncos head coach Vic Fangio, and was sort of that underdog story and a player who had been out of the NFL for a couple of years. He went three calendar years between NFL regular season games played, and he broke out for the Broncos in 2019 as a run-stuffing nose tackle. He racked up 48 total tackles and a whopping eight tackles for loss for the Broncos that year.

Injuries would limit him the next couple of seasons in Denver after he signed a contract extension with the team, but we've seen some improvement from Purcell as a pass rusher in recent years. He's got nine QB hits over the last two seasons, the most of any two-year stretch in his NFL career by far.

Although Purcell is 33 this year, he should still have some value as a starting nose tackle and someone who could be effective for 300-400 total snaps.

Heck, maybe the Highlands Ranch native will simply return to the Broncos at some point, although they gave his jersey number up...