Broncos Waive 5 Players Including DB Alijah Holder & WR Fred Brown

George Paton made his first official roster moves as Broncos GM.

On Tuesday, the Denver Broncos announced that five players have been waived, including wide receiver Fred Brown, defensive end Joel Heath, safety Alijah Holder, tight end Jordan Leggett, and tackle Darrin Paulo.

These five moves are George Paton's first as Broncos GM. Perhaps the most bittersweet was the releases of Brown and Holder. 

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Brown has been with the Broncos since 2019 and appeared in 14 games over that span after entering the NFL as a college free agent out of Mississippi State in 2017 with Indianapolis. He saw action in just one regular-season game in 2020 and exits Denver with two catches for 21 yards.

Holder also joined the Broncos in 2019 as a college free agent out of Stanford. Initially signed as a cornerback, Vic Fangio converted him to safety in 2020 where he went on to make three tackles (two solo) in eight games. All in, Holder clocked 10 games as a Bronco. 

Paulo and Leggett were in-season arrivals last year, with the former being claimed off waivers at the end of August after starting right tackle Ja'Wuan James had opted out of the 2020 campaign. Paulo was a former college teammate of All-Pro left tackle Garett Bolles at Utah while Leggett won a National Championship with Deshaun Watson at Clemson in 2016

Heath joined the Broncos as a practice-squad addition in December of 2019 but opted out of the 2020 season. He's a former college free agent who spent his first four NFL seasons with the Houston Texans. He never saw action as a Bronco. 

Of the five players waived on Tuesday, only two had seen action in the Orange and Blue. A few of these moves come as somewhat of a surprise, as three of Tuesday's roster cuts were signed to a futures contract on January 4, including Brown, Leggett, and Paulo. 

That was, of course, about a week before Paton was hired as GM. 

After surveying the roster, and analyzing these five players, Paton pulled the plug. Each of the five will have to pass through the NFL waiver wire system. If unclaimed by another team, they'll become unrestricted free agents. 

Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadNJensen and @MileHighHuddle.