The Denver Broncos will have to do some roster juggling in the coming weeks.
The Broncos had an open roster spot for center Luke Wattenberg to return from injured reserve this week after trading outside linebacker Baron Browning, but the team will need to create more space soon.
In addition to Wattenberg, Denver also has six other players who will likely return to the 53-man roster sooner than later. While bracing for the possibility of future injuries, the Broncos will attempt to maximize their roster flexibility by utilizing practice squad elevations.
This week, for example, Denver elevated linebacker Zach Cunningham from the practice squad to the game-day roster because fellow linebacker Kwon Alexander has already used up his three elevations this season. The Broncos do not yet have room for Alexander on the active roster, so Cunningham is using the first of his three possible elevations.
Denver coach Sean Payton said the roster juggling is one of the hardest things for young players to understand during the season.
“I think the hardest thing for a young player is understanding the pro roster, the inactives, the gameday and the practice squad,” Payton said on Friday. “They’ve just come from — there’s 105, 110 players and doubled up numbers [in college]. You look at an NFL sideline on game day, it’s pretty thin. There’s more people that aren’t playing within our sideline box — sometimes drives me crazy — but more people [than players] when there’s 11 on the field.
“There’s moving parts. Three maximum practice squad elevations for a player then you have to make a decision. We think such-and-such is coming back on to the roster, we have to make a decision. So I think it’s hard. I talked to some of the younger players yesterday. Even where you just bring them in and show them the depth chart and you show them the columns of inactives, practice squad, here’s the 53 [man roster], here’s short-term injury reserve and long-term injury reserve. I think it’s hard for anyone to understand that puzzle.”
The pieces of the puzzle change throughout the season as players suffer injuries and the Broncos move players up and down from the practice squad. With several players waiting to return from IR and the PUP list, more transactions are on deck for Denver in the coming weeks.
