The Denver Broncos had to act quickly to retain running back Lance Ball on Wednesday, as he was reportedly about to be picked up by the Indianapolis Colts (his former NFL team) according to Mike Klis of the Denver Post.
The Broncos' staff was not about to let that happen, and they promoted Ball to their 53 man roster. To make room for Ball, the Broncos released recently signed tight end Daniel Coats, who was just added yesterday.
Ball led the Broncos in rushing in the pre-season, and is a second year player out of Maryland. The Broncos have been very pleased with Ball's work so far this season on the practice squad, and weren't about to let another one of their projects get away after the Colts already stole Andre Brown from them.
Ball first appeared in the league as a rookie with the Colts in 2008, but did not see any action in 2009. He had 21 carries for 119 yards and a touchdown in the pre-season, including the longest run Broncos fans have seen in a while when he had a 43 yarder against the
Pittsburgh Steelers.
Despite letting go of the recently signed Coats, Josh McDaniels maintained that the Broncos still had interest in the veteran tight end.
"There was some interest in Lance," said Broncos coach Josh McDaniels. "We've spent a lot of time with Lance. We like the way he's progressed in our system. You have to make a choice sometimes. You've invested a lot of time and effort into him. He's invested a lot of time and effort into our system. He's on the practice squad to develop and hopefully have a future with us. So based on the interest there was in Lance we went ahead and made that choice. We still have an interest in Coats, too. It's unfortunate it had to happen that quick."
The Broncos have not shown a great commitment to the running game this season, so it's unlikely that Ball will see action against the Chiefs, but perhaps he can provide a spark of sorts.