Broncos head coach Vic Fangio had not been pleased with his special teams players through the first three preseason games.
His boss, general manager John Elway, made a move to help correct the problem Friday by acquiring cornerback Duke Dawson from the New England Patriots in exchange for a swap of late-round draft picks.
While the Broncos added Dawson, 9News has learned through various sources the team moved at least 12 player off their roster.
There were 10 players released or waived:
Don Barclay, guard; Adam Bisnowaty, tackle-guard; Jake Brendel, guard-center; Rashard Causey, cornerback; Su’a Cravens, safety; Steven Dunbar Jr., receiver; Chaz Green, offensive tackle; Brendan Langley, receiver; Linden Stephens, cornerback; and David Williams, running back.
Two players were waived/injured after suffering injuries in the Broncos’ final preseason game Thursday night: Dadi Nicolas, a defensive end/outside linebacker and guard-center Ryan Crozier.
Those moves leave the Broncos with 76 players and they must trim to 53 by 2 p.m. Saturday.
Fangio temporarily solved his special teams coverage woes in the last two preseason games by having Brandon McManus kick touchbacks with six of his eight kickoffs.
But now comes the regular season opener at the sea level site of Oakland, Calif. (elevation 43 feet) against the Raiders and MacManus can’t kick them all out of the end zone, especially if the Denver offense picks up its scoring.
As for covering punts, last season Colby Wadman dropped one at the 1-yard line against the Raiders and Dwayne Harris returned it 99 yards for a touchdown.
Dawson ran the 40 in 4.46 seconds at the NFL Combine in 2018, the type of speed that helped him become the second-round draft pick of the New England Patriots.
But Dawson was placed on short-term injured reserve with a hamstring issue to start his rookie season and although he was placed on the 53-man roster for the second half, he was never activated on game day.
The Broncos gave the Patriots their sixth-round draft pick in 2020 in exchange for Dawson and a seventh-round pick in 2020.
Besides bringing much-needed speed to the Broncos’ special teams, Dawson will also add depth to the cornerback position. He should eventually compete with De’Vante Bausby for the No. 4 cornerback position behind Chris Harris Jr., Bryce Callahan and Isaac Yiadom.
Among the cuts, Cravens departure might have raised a few eyebrows because the Broncos in the spring of 2018 acquired the safety from Washington in an exchange of draft picks that essentially had the Broncos surrendering a late fourth-round draft pick.
Cravens, though, is more of an in-th-box box safety and Fangio's defense primarly employs a two-deep safety system.
Barclay had spent much of the Broncos' offseason running with the No. 1 offense in place of the recovering Ron Leary at right guard. But Leary is now healthy enough to start the opener at Oakland and the Broncos are confident super sub Elijah Wilkinson can back up at right guard.
Langely was a Broncos' third-round draft pick in 2017, but as a cornerback. After two seasons, he attempted to convert to receiver this season.
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