Broncos cut a player Wednesday who is playing vs. Chiefs on Thursday

Even though the Denver Broncos are 1-4, they have pulled off a pretty impressive roster maneuver ahead of their game on Thursday night against the Kansas City Chiefs. The Broncos waited until they knew with certainty that tight end Greg Dulcich was ready to go against Kansas City, even in a limited capacity, before activating him. In anticipation of that move, they released wide receiver Lil'Jordan Humphrey, a backup receiver who has played somewhat of a big role for them this season so far.

Well, although Humphrey was cut by the team on Wednesday, he will be joining them on the field against the Kansas City Chiefs on Thursday night as the Broncos brought him back rather quickly. You might be thinking to yourself, what's so special about that? Players get cut and brought back relatively frequently?

Well, this is a little bit of a different case.

The Broncos finessed the system here and instead of using a 53-man roster spot on Lil'Jordan Humphrey (at least, for the time being), they actually brought him back to the practice squad and utilized one of their two available elevations for him. Considering Dulcich was not on the 53-man roster as of Wednesday and Humphrey was in the team's gameplan anyway, it feels almost like the Broncos are getting an extra player here, even though they're not really.

It's just a good use of the NFL's new rules, the Broncos playing within the rules, and making sure they have the best 46 players suited up on Thursday night. Humphrey has caught a touchdown this year, he's done some blocking, and he had a big catch and run against the Chicago Bears for a first down that helped the Broncos come back and win.

Now, the team will have both he and Greg Dulcich available as big targets in the passing game against Kansas City.

Dulcich is not quite a luxury for this team either, but more of a necessity. In his absence, the Broncos have really struggled to involve the tight end position at all and most of the short-to-intermediate passing game has been throws to the running backs. Dulcich returning will hopefully at least make the offense a little more dynamic, even if he's not at 100 percent in terms of his overall usage.

At any rate, it might be a minor thing in the grand scheme of things, and it's not exactly going to push the Broncos over the top, but it's nice to see them do these kinds of roster gymnastics to gain any competitive advantage possible.