With some surprising moves, the Denver Broncos trimmed their roster down to 53 players. The Broncos enter 2024 with a young roster, with 39 players with five or fewer years of NFL experience and only four players 30 years old or older, including their kicker and punter.
The Broncos have a single starter on offense, left tackle Garett Bolles, and a single starter on defense, linebacker Alex Singleton, who is over 30 years old. Bolles is the oldest on the roster at 32. This is a change after having the ninth-oldest roster after the cutdowns in 2023, and now the Broncos have the 10th-youngest.
In my final roster prediction, I had 10 players making it who ended up not making the roster. Let’s look at those 10 differences and where I went wrong.
On the final prediction, only two quarterbacks made it to the quarterback position, with Zach Wilson benignly kept off. Wilson went on to have a great game in the preseason finale, and at the time of making the prediction, the NFL third quarterback rule hadn’t returned to what it was before last year.
The rule allowed a practice squad call-up quarterback to be used as an emergency quarterback. Had the rule reversal been known, I would’ve had Wilson making the roster, even without seeing him do as good of a job as he did in the finale.
Running Back | Fullback
There were no mistakes at running back, with all four predicted to make it, though it seemed close between Blake Watson and Tyler Badie externally.
The difference came at fullback, with Michael Burton making the prediction. Instead, Burton was cut and was re-signed to the practice squad. The hybrid tight end/fullback Nate Adkins made it, while he didn’t make it in the prediction, to be used as a hybrid player.
The biggest surprise came at wide receiver with the release of Tim Patrick, the starting slot receiver in the preseason. Denver decided to part ways due to its depth at the position, clearing up a log jam and Devaughn Vele stepping up.
Jalen Virgil also made it in the prediction as a kick returner, which was a long shot, so it isn’t surprising to see that he didn’t make it. He went to another team’s practice squad, where he felt he had a better chance at making the roster.
Tight End
Only three players made it in the prediction at tight end. With Nate Adkins being a hybrid player, he made it as the fullback or a fourth tight end. Whatever the case, this was already mentioned above.
While the prediction had four tackles, the actual roster carries five. Demontrey Jacobs made it in the prediction, but he was waived, and New England claimed him on waivers. Alex Palczewski and Frank Crum also made it.
George Paton and Sean Payton defended their decision to keep Crum, citing his size and how raw he is in pass protection. They want to develop him there, but the same was said about Jacobs last year.
The Broncos spent a year developing Jacobs, then moved on to try to do it all again with Crum. This remains a questionable decision despite the defense of the move.
Offensive Guard
Only two guards, Ben Powers and Quinn Meinerz, made it to the roster, but they must have liked what Palczewski did as a guard during the preseason. The prediction had Calvin Throckmorton making it, but they waived him and brought him back to the practice squad despite outside interest in the player.
Luke Wattenberg won the battle relatively early, and the battle switched to who the backup will be. Sam Mustipher made it in the prediction, looking significantly better than Alex Forsyth in each preseason game. However, the Broncos kept Forsyth over Mustipher, leading to a prediction mistake.
Defensive Line
The mistake here was that Angelo Blackson made it in the prediction, but four players were fighting for the final two spots. Matt Henningsen, Eyioma Uwazurike, Jordan Jackson, and Blackson were the four, and Uwazurike made it in the prediction and reality.
Jackson made it over Blackson after having an outstanding game in the preseason finale, while Blackson played the worst game he had in the preseason.
The prediction had a fifth edge in Durrell Nchami, who got hurt in the finale. He was waived-injured in the roster cuts. There was no question about the other four pass rushers to make it, as they were all cemented, but it was always a question of four or five.
Inside Linebacker
Jonas Griffith went from battling for the starting job to being off the roster. He made it in the prediction over Justin Strnad. Strnad improved significantly on defense and is still a core special teams player.
Griffith was higher on the depth chart and could replicate Strnad on defense. Griffith was also slightly cheaper than Strnad, which played a part in the decision for the prediction.
Tremon Smith made it as a core special teams player, while he was kept off in the prediction. Damarri Mathis got hurt on the second play of the preseason finale and was placed on injured reserve. It is impossible to know how things would’ve played out had Mathis not gotten hurt.
Safety
Five safeties made it instead of the four I had in the prediction. Keidron Smith had an outstanding preseason, and it was hard to leave off my prediction, but the roster math didn’t work. I'm glad to have been wrong here because Smith deserved to make this roster.
Both kicker and long snapper were set with no competition at either. Punter, I had flipped with Trenton Gil, making it over Riley Dixon for financial reasons. Dixon had a clear lead over camp and preseason, and the financials weren’t enough of a difference to go against that.
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