Broncos Camp — Sep 3: Joly Claimed, Denver Claimed Nobody

The pick Denver expected to get back went to Miami instead. Tight end Justin Joly, the hundred-50-second selection in April, was claimed by the Dolphins on Monday, per Andrew Mason at Denver Sports — the highest pick to hit the wire on Sunday by 47 selections, Mason writes, on a Monday when only 29 players were claimed league-wide. The front office's reasoning for waiving him was that he was raw and behind, and that he would clear, per Zack Kelberman at Denver Broncos On SI. George Paton on Monday, per Kelberman: "Justin is a talented player. We knew it when we drafted him. We knew he was raw… He missed a lot of the offseason, just a little bit behind. We wish we had another game or two. We still like the player. We think he's going to have a nice career." He will have it somewhere else. Sean Payton on keeping Dallen Bentley instead: "They are two different types of players… but we felt that Bentley earned that." Miami also claimed cornerback Reese Taylor, three seasons mostly on Denver's practice squad, per Mason. Those are the two Denver lost on the wire. Denver, for its part, claimed no one, traded for no one, and signed no one to the 53 between Monday and Wednesday, per its own transaction log — Paton had said Sunday "we're looking at the wire tonight obviously," and the looking produced nothing.

Payton's line for that, per Aric DiLalla at the team's site: "We haven't tattooed this roster." And on the exercise: "How do we get the 53, the 16 as best we can? That's the science of it, and it's never exact."

17 practice-squad deals, signed Monday, per DiLalla — that is where the week's work went, and most of it is Denver's own. On offense: receivers Michael Bandy, Kolbe Katsis and Dane Key; tight end Lucas Krull; tackle Tyler Miller; guards Gavin Ortega and Calvin Throckmorton; fullback Adam Prentice; and running back Cody Schrader. On defense: outside linebackers David Agoha, who came into the league through the International Player Pathway, and Johnny Walker Jr.; inside linebacker Red Murdock; cornerbacks Brent Austin and Sean Fresch Jr.; and safety Miles Scott. +2 long snappers, Luke Basso and Mitchell Fraboni. 12 of them cleared waivers first. Four — Fraboni, Krull, Prentice, Throckmorton — are vested veterans who bypassed waivers and signed straight from release, which Paton says "gives us flexibility." So two names our last episode listed as gone are Broncos again, Throckmorton and Fraboni, along with Krull and Prentice, the other two vested veterans who took the deal. So are the two we spent the most words on: Murdock, the seventh-rounder we told you the beat called the big shocker of the cuts, and Schrader, who we told you went out despite a hundred 32 scrimmage yards in the finale. Both seventh-rounders, Murdock and Scott, are on the squad. Running back Jaleel McLaughlin is the one who went elsewhere, to Cleveland's practice squad Tuesday, per Jake Shapiro at Denver Sports, with 283 career touches; Paton on that cut: "Jaleel, he's something else. He was really important to this team, the passion, everything he brings… that was probably the last decision we made, this fourth runner."

The long snapper question we left you with has no team answer yet. Erick Trickel at Denver Broncos On SI expects Fraboni to sit on the practice squad for the first three weeks and then be promoted. The 53 still carries no long snapper. Nothing on the practice squad has moved since Monday, per the team's roster page.

The reserve list, per the team's release and roster page: tackle Frank Crum and tight end Caleb Lohner on injured reserve with return designations, guard Nick Gargiulo on the reserve physically-unable-to-perform list — all three eligible in Week 5, though Paton said he was "not sure the timetable, midseason maybe," and that Denver "won't see him until late October or so," per Andrew Mason at Denver Sports, and Payton notes he was hurt "24 hours after the deadline to put someone on PUP"; Sanders reverted; and Michael Deiter and Levelle Bailey went to injured reserve back in August, per the team's transaction log, with Matt Henningsen on injured reserve as well. Marvin Mims Jr., who left the finale on the first drive, is on the 53 as one of six receivers with Pat Bryant, Troy Franklin, Lil'Jordan Humphrey, Courtland Sutton and Jaylen Waddle; Payton's read was "Mims is going to be fine. It's a bruise," per Chad Jensen at Denver Broncos On SI. The quarterback order, per Payton on Wednesday via Joey Freeburg: Jarrett Stidham is the second — "Yeah, he would be now" — Sam Ehlinger third, all three active on game day. Paton on keeping three: "We didn't want to lose him, and we felt we were going to lose him. He's too important to our team and just didn't want to risk doing that." Vance Joseph on Jonah Elliss opposite Nik Bonitto: he "played really well, but he didn't play enough" last season.

Cooper remains on the commissioner's exempt list, barred from practice and games, with the two-to-six-game suspension Mike Klis at 9NEWS said he could face, per Zack Kelberman at Denver Broncos On SI, still unresolved. On Monday he pleaded not guilty to five charges, one of them a felony assault count, with a jury trial set for November 10, 12 and 13 in Douglas County — dates that fall inside Denver's bye, per Will Petersen at Denver Sports. Payton: "We're staying the course with the league. We're staying the course with league protocol, club protocol relative to what we're advised to do."

Back in July we previewed Denver as the most precedent-burdened team in football — a season built on one-score wins, a decade of history saying teams that live on that coin usually decline, and a case against decline resting on Nix's repaired ankle and an offense good enough to stop needing close finishes. What the coin produced: 14 three, the top seed, an offense tenth in expected points added per play — the measure of how much each snap moved the expected score — a defense sixth, 68 sacks, the most in the league, and 23 sacks taken, tied for the fewest. Cut day dented the roster around the offense. This week left the roster exactly as dented — no claim, no signing, a hundred-50-second pick lost outright, the edge rusher's absence now carrying a November trial date on top of an unresolved league timetable — while the front office says the roster is not tattooed. The offense's case held again, untested. The margins the preview worried about got no wider and no narrower. They got a date.

Next is the Chiefs, Monday, September 14, at Arrowhead. What to watch: whether the 53 changes before Monday night, and whether Fraboni is elevated or promoted. The Recap follows the game.

_Data via nflverse._