Sherfield\u2019s in line for a sizable role<\/a>, and the other five feel like locks. That leaves a host of guys who are interesting practice squad candidates or could catch other teams\u2019 eyes. Saturday night against Arizona, it was Courtney Jackson\u2019s turn to have a big night (105 all-purpose yards). Kyrese Rowan, Jerjuan Newton and Joaquin Davis have each had nice moments, too, but it\u2019s hard to find a spot on the 53-man for any of them.<\/p>\nOffensive line (9): Garett Bolles, Ben Powers, Luke Wattenberg, Quinn Meinerz, Mike McGlinchey, Matt Peart, Alex Palczewski, Alex Forsyth and Frank Crum<\/p>\n
Biggest question: Is there a surprise from the young guys in store?<\/p>\n
If there were a 10th to make the team in this projection, it would have been Nick Gargiulo until he sustained a gruesome-looking leg injury against Arizona. Instead, we got with the same set that made the team out of camp last year. The five starters are set, Peart and Palczewski look like the primary backups for four of the five spots, and Forsyth has been the No. 2 center since Wattenberg won the job last summer. Crum is just too good an athlete to subject to the waiver wire, and he\u2019s developed some over the past year. They should have their choice of Calvin Throckmorton and a bunch of young players for practice squad spots.<\/p>\n
DEFENSE (25)
\nDefensive line (6):\u00a0Zach Allen, D.J. Jones, John Franklin-Myers, Malcolm Roach, Sai\u2019vion Jones, Jordan Jackson<\/p>\n
Biggest question: Any chance the Broncos load up here?<\/p>\n
Maybe the single-best roster battle going right now is Jackson against Uwazurike for what looks like maybe one spot. Even taking six for an odd-front team is a substantial number, but this is a group that backs it up with talent. Both made the team last year, but Sai\u2019vion Jones was a third-round pick whom the Broncos traded up for. He\u2019s making the team even if he\u2019s not in the rotation immediately. If you\u2019re trying to keep the best football players no matter what, you might try to find a way to squeeze all seven onto the roster. Slight edge to Jackson\u2019s versatility and pass-rush ability here. Even in a world where far fewer players get claimed on waivers than you\u2019d think at the roster cutdown, it\u2019d be a surprise if either guy made it back to the practice squad. Tough call, indeed.<\/p>\n
Outside linebacker (5):\u00a0Nik Bonitto, Jonathon Cooper, Jonah Elliss, Dondrea Tillman, Que Robinson<\/p>\n
Biggest question: Not a question, just stay healthy.<\/p>\n
This group\u2019s pretty straightforward. Andrew Farmer and Garrett Nelson each look like potential practice squad guys who are worth keeping around, but outside of an injury situation, there\u2019s no reason to tinker with the quintet above. The top four might be the best overall set in the NFL, and Robinson\u2019s going to be a good special teams player right out of the gate if he\u2019s active on game days. He\u2019s got the length and pass-rush ability to work his way into the rotation by the end of the year or fill in if there\u2019s an injury.<\/p>\n
Inside linebacker (4): Alex Singleton, Dre Greenlaw, Levelle Bailey, Justin Strnad<\/p>\n
Biggest question: Health, really.<\/p>\n
Assuming Singleton and Greenlaw are ready to roll by Sept. 7, this group is in pretty good shape. But neither has played much so far in camp. Payton said he\u2019s looking forward to seeing Greenlaw in padded action this week. Bailey\u2019s had a solid camp, and Strnad\u2019s a trusty veteran special teams player who can play on defense if needed. The Broncos like all three undrafted rookies \u2014 JB Brown, Karene Reid and Jordan Turner \u2014 but Turner\u2019s come on strong and made several splash plays against the Cardinals. A practice squad candidate to remember. Garret Wallow\u2019s played 35 NFL games and could be a practice squad candidate, too.<\/p>\n
Cornerback (5):\u00a0Pat Surtain II, Riley Moss, Jahdae Barron, Ja\u2019Quan McMillian, Kris Abrams-Draine<\/p>\n
Biggest question: Anybody else?<\/p>\n
There may not be a better quintet in football. The question isn\u2019t about nickel or dime packages \u2014 those competitions are among these five players. It\u2019s really about special teams and whether 2022 fourth-round pick Damarri Mathis (who carries a $3.6 million cap hit into the final year of his rookie deal) makes the squad. It\u2019ll be a competition with players from other position groups. Neither Mathis nor any of the other young players are supplanting Abrams-Draine. If Reese Taylor (hamstring) gets healthy over the next 10 days, he could push for a spot because of his special teams work and ability to play inside and outside.<\/p>\n
Safety (5):\u00a0Talanoa Hufanga, Brandon Jones, P.J. Locke, JL Skinner, Sam Franklin<\/p>\n
Biggest question: How does special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi see the pecking order?<\/p>\n
Denver signed Sam Franklin to be a special teams ace and gave him $1.338 million guaranteed. That doesn\u2019t put him in un-cuttable territory, but it speaks to what they think he brings to the table. Devon Key is probably the next man up after Hufanga, Jones and Locke in terms of defensive ability, but if they can get him to the practice squad, perhaps they\u2019ll try. They could also keep Skinner and Key and bring Franklin back as a veteran practice squad player.<\/p>\n
SPECIAL TEAMS (3)
\nPK Wil Lutz, P Jeremy Crawshaw, LS Mitch Fraboni<\/p>\n
Biggest question: How quickly can Crawshaw develop consistency?<\/p>\n
The rookie sixth-round pick has big-time talent and can put the ball into orbit. But he\u2019s struggled to hit the ball consistently, and he\u2019s looked shaky in preseason outings so far. This is a team with Super Bowl aspirations. If Payton and the front office think the punter is at risk of costing them a game, they\u2019ll consider their options.<\/p>\n
Want more Broncos news? Sign up for the Broncos Insider to get all our NFL analysis.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Broncos are 10 days from some painful roster decisions. Sean Payton, however, would prefer to lose a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":296704,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2062],"tags":[3878,3882,1268,28570,1269,925,10886,232,2894,3895,564,1270,3899,3893,231,258,2426,1271,9916,1160,2826,7,3898,1713,1006,1273,3872,3537,2318,1729,3901,3907,3894,929,3883,3539,3884,926,6,3540,1625,3913,1011,3267,3887,1514,1813,9,3319,1275,1276,3906,1626,1733],"class_list":{"0":"post-296703","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-denver-broncos","8":"tag-adam-trautman","9":"tag-alex-singleton","10":"tag-audric-estime","11":"tag-ben-powers","12":"tag-blake-watson","13":"tag-bo-nix","14":"tag-brandon-jones","15":"tag-broncos","16":"tag-caleb-lohner","17":"tag-calvin-throckmorton","18":"tag-colorado","19":"tag-courtland-sutton","20":"tag-d-j-jones","21":"tag-damarri-mathis","22":"tag-denver","23":"tag-denver-broncos","24":"tag-denverbroncos","25":"tag-devaughn-vele","26":"tag-dondrea-tillman","27":"tag-dre-greenlaw","28":"tag-evan-engram","29":"tag-football","30":"tag-frank-crum","31":"tag-garett-bolles","32":"tag-jahdae-barron","33":"tag-jaleel-mclaughlin","34":"tag-jarrett-stidham","35":"tag-jl-skinner","36":"tag-john-franklin-myers","37":"tag-jonah-elliss","38":"tag-jonathon-cooper","39":"tag-justin-strnad","40":"tag-kris-abrams-draine","41":"tag-latest-headlines","42":"tag-luke-wattenberg","43":"tag-malcolm-roach","44":"tag-mike-mcglinchey","45":"tag-more-broncos-news","46":"tag-nfl","47":"tag-nick-gargiulo","48":"tag-nik-bonitto","49":"tag-p-j-locke","50":"tag-pat-bryant","51":"tag-pat-surtain-ii","52":"tag-quinn-meinerz","53":"tag-riley-moss","54":"tag-sean-payton","55":"tag-sports","56":"tag-talanoa-hufanga","57":"tag-troy-franklin","58":"tag-tyler-badie","59":"tag-wil-lutz","60":"tag-zach-allen","61":"tag-zach-wilson"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=296703"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296703\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/296704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=296703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=296703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=296703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}