Saturday’s minor moves:
Chicago Bears
- Placed on IR: WR Nsimba Webster, RB Ian Wheeler
- Waived (injury designation): S Douglas Coleman, DL Keith Randolph
- Released: TE Tommy Sweeney
Miami Dolphins
- Released from IR via injury settlement: WR Willie Snead
Wednesday’s reserve/futures deals:
Atlanta Falcons
- FB Robert Burns, S Tre Tarpley
Chicago Bears
- S Douglas Coleman, LS Cameron Lyons
Kansas City Chiefs
- QB Ian Book, WR Jacob Copeland, RB Hassan Hall, OLB Jordan Smith
Los Angeles Chargers
New York Giants
- LB Tomon Fox
The Broncos parted ways with 24 players to trim their roster to the 53-man regular-season limit. Here are the players the team cut to get to 53.
Waived:
- T Quinn Bailey
- RB LeVante Bellamy
- WR Trinity Benson
- WR Fred Brown
- LB Malik Carney
- S Douglas Coleman
- RB Jeremy Cox
- TE Troy Fumagalli
- WR Kendall Hinton
- S Alijah Holder
- LB Justin Hollins
- OL Tyler Jones
- S P.J. Locke
- C Pat Morris
- T Darrin Paulo
- T Jake Rodgers
- QB Brett Rypien
- LB Derrek Tuszka
- LB Josh Watson
- T Hunter Watts
- WR Cody White
- DL DeShawn Williams
- WR Juwann Winfree
Released:
Placed on IR:
- TE Austin Fort
The Rypien cut will leave the Broncos with two active-roster QBs — Drew Lock and Jeff Driskel — while the Fumagalli and Fort decisions mean Jake Butt made Denver’s active roster. Viewed as a long shot to do so after the team made multiple tight end additions this offseason, Butt made it through camp healthy to start his contract year. The former Michigan standout has suffered three ACL tears in his career.
Denver drafting three wideouts made matters difficult for their lesser-known holdovers, but Winfree — a 2019 sixth-rounder — profiles as a practice squad candidate. The Broncos will carry rookie seventh-rounder Tyrie Cleveland onto their active roster.
Bausby has bounced around the league for several years now, and the former Division II standout joined Mike Purcell in vaulting from the Alliance of American Football to a Broncos role last year. But the team kept UDFA Essang Bassey over Bausby this year.
The Broncos made 10 draft picks and will, for now, go with a smaller UDFA group. Denver announced seven UDFA signings on Sunday; here is the full list:
- LeVante Bellamy, RB (Western Michigan)
- Essang Bassey, DB (Wake Forest)
- Douglas Coleman III, S (Texas Tech)
- Kendall Hinton, WR (Wake Forest)
- Zimari Manning, WR (Tarleton State)
- Riley Neal, QB (Vanderbilt)
- Hunter Watts, T (Central Arkansas)
Denver has a modern history of coaxing immense success from UDFAs, having identified All-Pros Chris Harris and Pro Bowlers Phillip Lindsay, C.J. Anderson and Shaquil Barrett since 2011. This year’s group interestingly includes two wide receivers after a three-wideout draft. Hinton started his college career at quarterback, while the 6-foot-2, 200-pound Manning dominated at the Division II level. He caught 68 passes for 1,462 yards and 22 touchdowns last season.
Neal started at Ball State before transferring to Vanderbilt for his senior season. Coleman’s eight interceptions ranked third in Division I-FBS last season. Watts stands 6-foot-8 and joins a team that has an uncertain left tackle situation, with Garett Bolles and Elijah Wilkinson set to vie for a spot that has lacked stability since Ryan Clady‘s 2016 departure. The Broncos did not draft a tackle.
The Broncos gave Bellamy a $25K signing bonus, per Mike Klis of 9News (on Twitter). Manning received $12.5K to sign, with Hinton receiving a $10K signing bonus.