DENVER — While the Broncos cut their share of the more than 1,100 players being let go across the league on roster cut-down day Tuesday, don’t get any ideas about the roster being finalized.
As the deadline for teams to trim their rosters to 53 players came and went Tuesday afternoon, head coach Sean Payton promised the Broncos will keep an eye on the waiver wire before the season kicks off Sept. 10.
“The hay is not in the barn,” Payton told reporters. “I think there's gonna be a number of players that will be on this waiver wire that we've got to look closely at and then make the comparisons that get us back to what we've discussed, [...] competing against the whole league rather than just your own physician group.”
Denver Broncos
Here's who the Broncos cut ahead of Tuesday's deadline
Payton said he and his staff would be at the team facility until 2 a.m. evaluating options as far as players who could potentially be brought to Denver.
“If I'd loved where I was at, then I'd probably go home for dinner at six [o’clock],” he said. “So maybe that's a way to answer it.”
Players with less than four years of service in the league are eligible for waivers, meaning they can be claimed by any team in the ensuing 24-hour period. Once players clear waivers, they can be signed as unrestricted free agents to practice squads or full rosters.
The Broncos are fifth on the waiver priority list, which, for the first three weeks of the season, follows the same order as the most recent NFL Draft – the worst-to-first ranking of teams the previous year.
