A healing Broncos cornerback corps meant Kary Vincent Jr., the team’s seventh-round pick this year, had a short stay in Denver.
General manager George Paton dealt Vincent to the Eagles at the trade deadline on Tuesday in exchange for a sixth-round pick in 2022, a move driven by the fact that the Broncos are about to get a trio of cornerbacks healthy in Michael Ojemudia, Mike Ford and Essang Bassey. Vincent was inactive for all eight games this year.
“(Vincent) is a talented kid who we really liked,” Paton said. “Really, we just had a logjam at corner. We have three players who are going to come back, two off the IR list (Ojemudia and Ford) and one off the PUP list (Bassey). That will happen within the next two weeks, so we just had to make a move. So that’s a good problem to have.”
Ojemudia, a third-round pick in 2020, had an up-and-down rookie season in which he appeared in all 16 games. Ford was claimed off waivers from Detroit on Sept. 1 and has been a solid special teams addition. Bassey, who tore his ACL last year, will see time at the nickel when he returns with veteran Bryce Callahan expected to go on injured reserve, a source confirmed.
Callahan was signed ahead of the 2019 season but missed it all due to a foot injury, and was limited to eight games in 2020 due to a foot injury. He injured his knee against Washington on Sunday while defending a deep ball in the fourth quarter. After he misses Sunday’s game in Dallas, he will have been unavailable for 23 of 41 possible games as a Bronco.
Fant placed on COVID-19 list. The Broncos placed tight end Noah Fant on the COVID/Reserve list on Tuesday. Guard Netani Muti was placed on the list Oct. 26. Paton said he’s “always concerned (with positive tests).”
“We’re taking all the precautions,” Paton said. “There’s always concern, but we have great people in charge of that and in charge of all the proper protocols.”
Per the NFL’s COVID protocols, players who test positive for the virus are eligible to rejoin the team if they remain symptom-free and have two negative tests that are taken 24 hours apart. If the players are symptomatic, they must remain in isolation until two negative tests come back and they are asymptomatic for 48 hours. Muti has not yet returned to the team.
