The Broncos are playing a game they must win to keep their playoff hopes alive in a couple of hours, and are making a major change ahead of the game. 
Outside linebacker Shane Ray and safety Su’a Cravens will be benched and be healthy scratches for the game against the Browns, a source told Mike Klis of Denver 9 News. Klis writes that the moves are “strictly a coach’s decision”, meaning embattled head coach Vance Joseph made the call. Ray was a first round pick of the Broncos back in 2015, and has mostly been a disappointment after a promising first two years. He’s battled various injuries and has just one sack this year, and the team declined his fifth-year team option earlier this year. He’ll be a free agent after the season, so it’s quite possible he’s played his last down in a Broncos uniform.
Cravens is in his first year with the Broncos after spending his first two years in the league with Washington. Cravens was a second round pick of the Redskins in 2016, but quickly had a falling out with the organization. The Broncos traded a couple of draft picks to acquire Cravens this past March, and he’s been a major disappointment. He missed most of the year with a knee injury, and Klis notes that he’s “struggled in coverage” since returning.
Both of the players had been seeing significant snaps on defense, so it’s a major shakeup. It feels like a last gasp for Joseph, as he seems almost certain to lose his job if the team misses the playoffs. There have been whispers in the past about Joseph losing the locker room, so it will be very interesting to see how these moves go over.
Cravens is a joke. No heart.
Another ‘great pick’ by Scot. Keep singing his praises as a master of drafting.
Will this hurt their defense if they’ve been such disappointments? I have the Broncos defense in my fantasy football semi-final.
There have to be better option on the waiver wire… Chubb and Mayfield have been really good over the past month.
Giants?
Way to go coach. That decision helped you lose at home and soon lose your job!,,
He’s done pretty good with a team that doesn’t have a QB.
Could be worse. Could have a great team and watch Mike Tomlin find a way to blow it every chance he gets, yet never get fired
All I want for Christmas, or shortly thereafter, is a Joseph firing