Shamarko Thomas

Broncos Trim Roster To 53

The Denver Broncos made a slew of moves today to get down to 53 players. Notably, the team will place rookie second-round quarterback Drew Lock on injured reserve, meaning he’ll have to miss at least the first eight games of the season as he recovers from his thumb injury. The team cut journeyman Kevin Hogan and UDFA Brett Rypien, leaving them without a quarterback behind Joe Flacco. GM John Elway has said they’ll sign a veteran to backup Flacco for now, and we’ve already heard they’re interested in Brian Hoyer.

There weren’t too many surprises that we didn’t already know of. Brendan Langley, a 2017 third-round pick, failed to make the team. He was drafted as a cornerback, but switched to receiver earlier this offseason after he didn’t pan out on defense.

Here’s the full list of other moves:

Waived:

FB George Aston

T Quinn Bailey

WR Trinity Benson

LB Keishawn Bierria

OL Adam Bisnowaty

OL Jake Brendel

WR Fred Brown

LB Jamal Carter

CB Rashard Causey

WR Steven Dunbar Jr.

OLB Ahmad Gooden

CB Alijah Holder

RB Devontae Jackson

CB Trey Johnson

G/C Sam Jones

OL Tyler Jones

T John Leglue

WR Kelvin McKnight

RB Khalfani Muhammad

DL Deyon Sizer

CB Linden Stephens

TE Moral Stephens

RB David Williams

DE DeShawn Williams

Waived/injured:

C Ryan Crozier

LB Joe Dineen

OLB Dadi Nicolas

S Dymonte Thomas

Released:

NFL Reserve/Futures Contracts: 1/2/19

Here are Wednesday’s reserve/futures contract moves:

Cleveland Browns

Cincinnati Bengals

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

Minnesota Vikings

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Tennessee Titans

Washington Redskins

 

* = part of the NFL’s International Player Development Program

NFL Workout Updates: 12/25/18

Today’s workouts, all courtesy of veteran NFL reporter Howard Balzer (on Twitter):

Green Bay Packers

  • TE: Evan Bayliss

Houston Texans

  • LB: Cory James

San Francisco 49ers

  • DE: Damontre Moore

Seattle Seahawks

  • CB: Quinten Rollins; SS’s: Keith Tandy, Shamarko Thomas

Tennessee Titans

  • DEs: Christian LaCouture, Kendall Vickers; DT: Dee Liner

Washington Redskins

  • TE: Jace Amaro; Ts: Isaiah Battle, Cyrus Kouandjio, Darius James; DL: Kwaku Boateng (EDM CFL); QBs: Max Browne, Joe Callahan; LBs: Marquis Flowers, Hau’oli Kikaha, Corey Nelson, John Timu; WRs: Carlos Henderson, ArDarius Stewart, Tre McBride, Devin Smith.

NFL Workout Updates: 12/18/18

Here is the latest from the workout circuit, all links going to Adam Caplan of Sirius XM Radio’s Twitter account (unless otherwise noted).

Arizona Cardinals

Buffalo Bills

Green Bay Packers

Los Angeles Chargers

  • DE Avery Ellis (link)

San Francisco 49ers

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Washington Redskins

Broncos Promote Trey Marshall

The Broncos will waive safety Shamarko Thomas in order to promote rookie safety Trey Marshall from the practice squad, league sources tell Mike Klis of 9News (on Twitter). While the Broncos value Thomas’ special teams acumen, they were compelled to make the move in order to prevent the Cardinals from signing Marshall off of the taxi squad. 

The Cardinals wound up with an open roster spot on Monday when they were forced to place defensive tackle Robert Nkemdiche on injured reserve. Marshall won’t turn 23 until February and would have been worth a look for Arizona’s 2019 roster, but the Broncos stepped in to prevent that from happening. He’ll now have a chance to make his NFL debut with Denver after compiling 135 tackles, one sack, and six passes defensed while at Florida State.

Thomas, a fourth-round pick of the Steelers in 2013, will become a free agent if he is not claimed on waivers. He appeared in six games for Denver this year and recorded seven total tackles.

The Broncos are 6-7 after Sunday’s loss to the 49ers, but they technically still have a shot at reaching the playoffs as a Wild Card team.

Minor NFL Transactions: 9/11/18

Today’s minor moves:

Dallas Cowboys

Denver Broncos

Detroit Lions

Green Bay Packers

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Jacksonville Jaguars

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Washington Redskins

Broncos Make Roster Moves

The Broncos have trimmed their roster to 53 players by making the following moves:

Waived:

Waived/injured:

Released:

Placed on injured reserve:

Placed on PUP:

AFC Rumors: Decker, Gordon, DRC, Broncos

At this summer’s outset, the Patriots‘ receiving corps looked like it could feature plenty of depth. Kenny Britt, Jordan Matthews and Malcolm Mitchell were competing for spots for a team whose top receiver is a 32-year-old slot man coming off a season-erasing injury. But the Julian Edelman-fronted group has experienced some turnover, with that aforementioned trio no longer in the picture. New England brought in another veteran, Eric Decker, recently. The Pats would be the 31-year-old receiver’s fourth NFL team, but he’s not a lock to make the 53-man roster, Andy Hart of Patriots.com writes. Decker does not seem comfortable in the Pats’ offense, Hart adds. If Decker cannot make the Patriots, the supporting cast behind Edelman and Chris Hogan won’t be a slew of seasoned wideouts. Underwhelming ex-first-rounder Phillip Dorsett remains in contention, and kick-return specialist Cordarrelle Patterson looks like a roster lock. Special-teamer Matthew Slater and would-be rookies Braxton Berrios and Riley McCarron round out one of the more interesting groups of the Tom Brady era.

Here’s the latest out of the AFC, shifting to a more famous wide receiver.

  • Josh Gordon‘s back on the Browns‘ active roster after yet another stint away from the team. The Browns are preparing their mercurial weapon to play in Week 1, but he’ll likely miss Thursday’s preseason finale due to hamstring discomfort, Mary Kay Cabot of cleveland.com tweets. Gordon looks to be in the clear as far as another NFL suspension goes, when it was once thought the league could discipline him for his camp absence because of the extensive substance abuse in the seventh-year receiver’s past. But Cabot reports the Browns are working alongside the NFL and Gordon’s medical team to bring him back to work. She adds (via Twitter) the NFL’s cleared Gordon and it will be up to the Browns to determine his participation going forward.
  • Jon Gruden‘s last Raiders team had a deep cast of 30-somethings. This collection doesn’t bring the notoriety the Tim Brown-, Jerry Rice– and Rich Gannon-led operation did, but Gruden’s assembled a unique crew of veterans this offseason. Now that Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie‘s on the team, the Raiders have signed 11 players north of 30 just this year. As for why the 32-year-old cornerback is in Oakland after a lengthy stay in free agency, it appears to be because of injuries. “We have had a number of corners go down, and we need somebody to come in here and make a play,” Gruden said, via Vic Tafur of The Athletic (on Twitter). “With his history in this league, he has a lot of clout. … We are hoping we can rejuvenate him. … He can play.”
  • Shamarko Thomas has enjoyed an eventful preseason. The latest notable event involving the veteran safety proved to be a scary sequence. The recently signed Broncos defender spent the night in a Washington D.C.-area hospital for a possible detached retina, Mike Klis of 9News reports (via Twitter). Thomas is now back in Denver, per Klis (on Twitter). The precise damage to Thomas’ eye remains uncertain. This comes two weeks after Thomas became the first player ejected from a game under the NFL’s new helmet rule. The Colts then released him shortly after. He’s battling for a backup job in Denver.

Minor NFL Transactions: 8/13/18

Today’s minor moves:

Arizona Cardinals

Cincinnati Bengals

  • Signed: DT Simeyon Robinson

Denver Broncos

  • Signed: S Shamarko Thomas, LB Alexander Johnson
  • Released: LB Stansly Maponga

Houston Texans 

Kansas City Chiefs

Minnesota Vikings

Pittsburgh Steelers

  • Signed: C Oni Omoile
  • Waived/Injured: OL Parker Collins

Washington Redskins

  • Signed: WR Dan Williams III

Colts To Sign DE Ryan Delaire

Ryan Delaire will receive another opportunity after being out of football in 2017. The Colts agreed to sign the free agent defensive end, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets.

To make room for Delaire, the Colts released veteran defensive back Shamarko Thomas, Mike Wells of ESPN.com reports. Interestingly, this move comes two days after Thomas was the NFL’s first player ejected under the new helmet-contact rule.

Delaire spent two years with the Panthers, serving as a rotational defensive end during their 2015 NFC title season and part of the following campaign, before missing the 2017 season. He took multiple visits in the spring, meeting with the Cowboys and Bears, and will land with the Colts.

A knee injury halted the former UDFA’s progress, with a possible late-season signing with the Eagles hijacked by a failed physical last year. He’ll now join former Eagles OC Frank Reich‘s team.

The Colts have added Denico Autry and Chris McCain to their defensive line mix, and they used a second-round pick to bring in Tyquan Lewis. They also have 2017 third-rounder Tarell Basham and one-time Bengals first-rounder Margus Hunt.

Delaire, 26, finished with 2.5 sacks as a rookie for the Super Bowl Panthers team, although he wasn’t active for that game, and Carolina brought him off IR in 2016. The Panthers waived the Division I-FCS product with a failed physical designation in July of last year.

Thomas played four seasons as a Steelers backup before seeing time in 12 games as a Bills reserve in 2017. The 27-year-old former fourth-round pick has sufficient service time to avoid waivers.