Broncos Final Roster Doesn’t Reflect Well On Denver’s Draft

The Denver Broncos have set their roster for their opener on Sept. 14 against the Kansas City Chiefs, although there’s still the possibility of another move or two as they finalize their practice squad and scan the cut lists of other teams to see who and what might be available. 

The overall impression is that this is a veteran roster that was mostly set coming into camp, although there were several fierce battles for backup spots, especially at running back and on defense. 

“Remember it’s the right 53 and getting the proper evaluation,” coach Sean Payton said after Friday’s preseason finale against Minnesota in a writeup from Parker Gabriel of the Denver Post. “I will spend more time concerned with who’s making it as opposed to the ones that maybe possibly aren’t. And I just finished saying this in the locker room: Oftentimes in those tough meetings the next two days, within a month, within two months, all of a sudden, a player will be back in your building. That happens.”

Payton is right about all that, but there’s something else that happened on the way to the cutting room floor. Simply put, this wasn’t much of a draft for the Broncos once you get past running back Jonah Coleman. 

Coleman’s been impressive so far, and he meets a unique Broncos need. The Broncos have a huge need for a bigger back who can still make plays in space, and so far Coleman looks like that guy. 

But everyone else doesn’t so far, especially not tight end Justin Joly, who was supposed to be a strong candidate to challenge Evan Engram for the role of move tight end. Instead he turned out to be one of the highest picks cut from across the league, so he got scooped up by the Miami Dolphins. 

Two other draft picks, safety Miles Scott and Red Murdock, were also waived Sunday, although a lot of this is a semi-sneaky move to get them through waiver and onto the practice squad. Defensive end Tyler Onyedim had some moments in minicamp and early in training camp, but it doesn’t sound like he’s going to see the field much this year. 

“This year, I think we spent more time on this roster going through a lot of different scenarios with a lot of these players that were released,” said GM George Paton. “It’s a puzzle. It’s ongoing. Now we’re building the practice squad, we’re looking at the wire tonight obviously.

“So, it’s fluid and yet, yes, this was a tough roster to make.”

The roster makeup has turned this year’s draft into a bit of a puzzle, too. Did the Broncos really just focus on roles in their final roster, or did they come up short when it comes to selecting good players?