When the Broncos submitted their list of waivers and terminations on Sunday afternoon, they knew there was a chance they’d have a couple of players pilfered by other teams.
They figured there was at least a chance they’d lose tight end Justin Joly, if for no other reason than for the fact that he was a fifth-round pick in April’s draft. Denver actually moved up to take him back then, at No. 152 overall.
Teams around the league wouldn’t have seen his training camp film in Denver, but they had recent reports on him considering he just was part of a draft class and was a known commodity, having played his college career at UConn and North Carolina State.
Joly was the highest-drafted player from this year’s class to be waived Sunday.
Still, head coach Sean Payton acknowledged Monday that the Broncos thought he would ultimately would clear waivers and make it to Denver’s practice squad.
Instead, Joly was claimed by the Miami Dolphins along with Broncos nickel Reese Taylor and five other players.
“If he’s not claimed, he’s coming back — we felt strongly that he’s coming back to our practice squad,” Payton said Monday. “Itap hard to predict. I would have thought (running back Jaleel McLaughlin) would have been claimed, and yet that didn’t happen. Itap hard to predict that.”
Payton talks regularly about how part of the calculus ahead of the roster cutdown deadline is who the club thinks it can get through waivers and to the practice squad.
“What you’re trying to do is get them all and we felt like we were able to do that for the most part,” Payton said. “If you sat in all those meetings, the final 12 hours of meeting are revolving around four players. Letap say three are going to find a 53 spot and one’s going to be a (practice squad). Who is least likely to be claimed?”
The Broncos each of the past two years have had a pair of players claimed by other teams.
When general manager George Paton talked Sunday after the club waived Joly and many others but before the Dolphins had claimed him, he expressed confidence in Joly’s future but also sounded as if he knew losing him was a possibility.
“Justin is a talented player,” Paton said then. “We knew it when we drafted him. We knew he was raw. We still like the player. He was coming on towards the end of training camp. Tight end position is a tough position for a rookie. 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. You just have to make tough decisions to build the best 53 you can make.”
Instead, the Broncos kept seventh-round tight end Dallen Bentley, who was a more accomplished blocker than Joly in college at Utah but was not much of a receiving threat (three catches in two seasons) until he burst onto the scene with 48 catches for 620 yards in his final season with the Utes.
“They’re entirely different type players but we felt like Bentley earned that,” Payton said of Bentley vs. Joly.
Frank Crum and Caleb Lohner start on injured reserve
Payton called the decision-making process for putting offensive lineman Frank Crum and tight end Caleb Lohner on injured reserve to start the season “pretty clean.”
They’ll each miss a minimum of four games.
Lohner spent the summer rehabbing from one injury that caused him to miss OTAs and minicamp, but was tracking toward being ready to practice near the start of training camp. Because of that, the team did not place him on the physically unable to perform list in July.
However, then Lohner sustained another injury what Payton described as “24 hours after” the deadline for placing players on PUP to start camp. Lohner was seen watching practice during camp with a boot on his left foot.
He was working on the side field Monday, but Paton said Sunday that he’s likely not going to be ready to play until late October.
Drew Sanders to injured reserve, but could be done in Denver
Outside linebacker Drew Sanders was waived with an injury designation Sunday and reverted to Denver’s injured reserve list Monday. That typically precedes an injury settlement that results in a player’s contract terminating and the player becoming a free agent.
“Itap difficult because you watch the process and the effort and the calories and the energy and the amount of time,” Payton said of Sanders, who has only played in four games over the past two years and was hurt again in Denver’s preseason opener at Atlanta earlier this month. “I know more than anyone he was frustrated. And so, those are never easy because of the makeup and the toughness. It really came down to just the injuries. And thatap always difficult.”
Que Robinson, Marvin Mims out Monday
Outside linebacker Que Robinson was on the side field Monday and receiver Marvin Mims Jr. was not in attendance. Neither matter is considered serious. Payton on Friday said Mims had “a bruise” he sustained early in the preseason finale against Minnesota.
