Broncos Sign TE/FB Orson Charles, Place Janovich on IR

The Broncos made a couple of roster moves ahead of their Week 12 road trip to Buffalo.

Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

On Tuesday, the Denver Broncos announced that the team has signed TE/FB Orson Charles and placed Andy Janovich on injured reserve. The move comes just two days after Janovich — the team's starting fullback — dislocated his elbow vs. the Minnesota Vikings. 

Charles (6-foot-3, 257 pounds), spent time with the Broncos this past summer, competing in training camp and the preseason. He is a sixth-year player with 49 career regular-season games under his belt, with eight starts. 

Charles can play tight end or fullback but clearly the Broncos have plans for him to revive his role as the band-aid fullback that he auditioned for this past summer. But failed to secure. 

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What it Means

It's a curious decision to use a roster spot on an additional fullback when A.) the Broncos already have Andrew Beck on the roster who served as Janovich's replacement in the first quarter of the season while Janovich was recovering from a pectoral injury and B.) George Aston, a true fullback, is already on the practice squad. 

Nevertheless, the Broncos will use one of their coveted spots on the 53-man roster on Charles and hope that he can remember everything he learned during his brief stint in Denver a few months ago. For what it's worth, Beck did an admirable job filling in for Janovich earlier this season and did so again in Week 11 after the stater went down, although Beck was called for a ticky-tack holding foul. 

Many fans hoped that Denver would use Janovich's roster spot to officially activate rookie QB Drew Lock off injured reserve but that is "unlikely" to happen this week, per head coach Vic Fangio, and the Charles signing all but guarantees that Lock will not be activated in time to serve as the backup in Week 12. 

The Broncos will continue their slow-roll of the Lock timetable, apparently content to wind down the clock with a stop-gap at quarterback in Brandon Allen whose snaps are ultimately being wasted in the grand scheme of things in Denver. Allen doesn't factor into the future-franchise-QB equation. Lock does. 

For a deep-dive discussion on the Lock situation, listen to the Huddle Up Podcast in the player above. 

Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadNJensen and @MileHighHuddle.