3 potential surprise cuts for the Denver Broncos ahead of the deadline

As the Denver Broncos near closer and closer to the official deadline for NFL teams to trim down their roster limits from 90 to 53 players, multiple discussions and questions have arisen regarding numerous players on the team and whether or not their future is in jeopardy. With the preseason officially in the books, head coach Sean Payton and GM George Paton now return to drawing boards as they evaluate all 90 players on their rosters in preparation to contact 37 players to inform them of their release within the next 24+ hours.

The Broncos already began the process on Sunday night when they announced the decision to waive WR Kendall Hinton, CB Delonte Hood, OT Isaiah Prince, and WRs JJ Koski and Nick Williams off their active roster. The moves saved the team roughly $1.2M in cap space as they now currently obtain $10.3M with plenty of room to bring in veteran additions to the roster. However, the Broncos are nowhere near close to being finished parting ways with veteran players on their roster as fans may be in for a few surprises as the team cuts down.

Denver Broncos Potential Surprise Cuts in 2023

WR Marquez Callaway

Reuniting with Sean Payton in his first offseason with the Denver Broncos, there was slight optimism that Marquez Callaway could return to his "2021 form" where he caught 46 passes for 698 yards and six touchdowns as the WR1 in Payton's offense. However, since signing with the Broncos, the veteran WR has not been able to pick up where he left off with his hall-of-fame head coach. In fact, Payton has repeatedly called out his former New Orleans Saints WR numerous times this offseason for the lack of progression and play-making ability as well as showing up to offseason programs overweight. Payton is known for not holding back in his criticism of players and he definitely let Callaway hear it in press conferences with the media.

Rather than bouncing back and making an impression during training camp or preseason, Callaway has been completely underwhelming to begin his tenure in Denver. Rarely did Callaway make plays with the offense during camp and thus, led to his demotion on the depth chart. Most expected Callaway to be the fourth WR behind Jerry Jeudy, Courtland Sutton, and Tim Patrick (prior to injury) however, he has been consistently outperformed by WRs Marvin Mims Jr., Brandon Johnson, and Lil'Jordan Humphrey on a weekly basis. If George Paton and the Broncos truly believe in upgrading at positions of need, they will release Callaway and search for available wide receivers around the league that are cut within the coming hours.