5 biggest surprises during Broncos' roster cutdowns

Many fans didn't see these moves coming.
5 biggest surprises during Broncos' roster cutdowns
5 biggest surprises during Broncos' roster cutdowns /

The Denver Broncos have officially whittled their roster down from 88 players on Friday to the 52 players who currently are left standing. It's one of the most difficult days for NFL GMs and coaches. 

This wasn't Vic Fangio's first rodeo, however, it was the first time he presided over the final roster cutdowns as head coach. While Fangio didn't meet with every cut player personally, he made himself available to any who wanted to speak with him on their way out. 

“We told the players that myself and all the coaches would be available to talk to if they wanted to, so I talked to a few of them,” Fangio said follow Satuday's cutdowns. 

We saw many of the roster cuts coming. Some of the decisions the Broncos have made, including what they'll do with injured players, did come as a surprise. With that in mind, here are the five decisions that made fans raise their eyebrows. 

Cutting bait with both backup QB candidates

Look, I get it. Neither Kevin Hogan nor Brett Rypien were inspiring this summer. However, I at least expected the Broncos to carry one of them overnight until the team brass could peruse the waiver wire in search of any possible upgrades. 

But GM John Elway didn't see any viable backup qualities in Hogan and Rypien, at least not in their current form. It's not hard to understand why. Hogan failed to complete even 51% of his passes in five preseason games this summer, while Rypien showed flashes at times but was clearly still swimming in his jump to the NFL. 

The Broncos will look to quickly add a veteran backup. And from the sounds of it, that backup will end up in Denver a little longer than was initially assumed.

Placing Drew Lock on injured reserve

This hasn't been done yet, but the Broncos do plan on placing their rookie second-round QB on short-term IR. Lock suffered a severe sprain to the thumb on his throwing hand in Denver's third preseason game. 

Even though he'll probably be able to begin throwing in late September, and soon after be available for his team as the backup, the Broncos are going to bite the bullet and wipe out half of his rookie year. In order to go on short-term IR, a player will have to miss eight full weeks of the season.

That means that even if Lock feels good enough to throw and play in, say, four weeks, he will be prohibited from practicing with the team until those eight weeks are up. By placing Lock on IR, the Broncos are risking the possibility of his development being curtailed slightly because of that, but it hinges entirely on his recovery timetable. 

This way, not only is Lock going to be under no pressure to heal up, the Broncos will be able to utilize his roster spot for half the season. Clearly, Lock's injured thumb was worse than the team initially let on.

Waiving OG Sam Jones

Jones is a second-year interior offensive lineman whom the Broncos drafted in the sixth round a year ago. Although he made the roster out of camp as a rookie, he could not duplicate the results in year two. 

I raise my eyebrows here, not necessarily because Jones was waived. Rather, it's because Jones became expendable, despite spending the last eight months being coached by one of the best in the business in Mike Munchak. 

I expected Munchak to be able to mine the promise Jones showed at times in his rookie preseason and perhaps help him become a polished gem. Alas, that's not how it played out. 

And Jones was healthy all summer, unlike his rookie year where he suffered a back injury halfway through the preseason. This isn't likely the last we'll hear from Jones in Denver, though. I expect the Broncos to re-sign him to the practice squad if he passes through waivers. 

Waiving FB George Aston

I never expected the Broncos to carry two fullbacks on the active roster, so either the team expected the injured Andy Janovich to be recovered from his pec injury far earlier than the mid-season IR point, or he'd be placed on IR. 

Janovich going on IR was the only way undrafted rookie George Aston was making this roster. Still, many fans held out hope that 'The Animal' would make it through the roster cuts. 

Alas, it wasn't meant to be. Janovich is not going on IR and Aston was waived. Elway said the Broncos expect Janovich to miss 'two or three weeks'. Until he heals up, a tight end will handle the lead-blocking duties in the run game. 

Meanwhile, if Aston passes through waivers unclaimed, look for Denver to re-sign him. The Broncos like him a lot and with Janovich in a contract year, the team needs to hedge against the future. 

Waiving DB Su'a Cravens

Again, this was one that didn't surprise me but I know it upset many Broncos fans. However, it shouldn't. 

Cravens' heart hasn't been in the game since the Broncos acquired him via trade two springs ago. He was a healthy scratch for Vance Joseph in the Broncos' final three games last year, which spoke volumes. 

With Vic Fangio's arrival, Cravens had a chance to start anew but he did not seize the day. Most veteran players, if you ask them how many days they've missed in their career due to illness, they'd tell you no more than one or two. Cravens missed a week basically right in the middle of training camp with a mysterious illness. 

The dude just wasn't committed and outside of one play in the preseason finale, he didn't flash. Bottom line, not only was Cravens not a Vic Fangio guy, he wasn't even a Vance Joseph guy. What does that tell you?

Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadNJensen and @MileHighHuddle


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Chad Jensen
CHAD JENSEN

Chad Jensen is the Founder of Mile High Huddle and creator of the wildly popular Mile High Huddle Podcast. Chad has been on the Denver Broncos beat since 2012 and is a member of the Pro Football Writers of America.