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A day-by-day Broncos player breakdown is something we've been doing since our days at BroncoTalk nearly a decade ago. This year the tradition continues as we look at the Denver Broncos roster heading into the 2015 season in our 90-in-90 series.
Name: Lerentee McCray
Position: OLB
Height: 6' 3" Weight: 249
Age: 24 Experience: 3rd Season
College: Florida
Lerentee McCray signed with us in April 2013 as an undrafted college free agent. He received the largest signing bonus of the UDCFAs that we signed that year - meaning that he was sought after by other teams.
Of the 16 UDCFAs we signed in 2013, McCray and C.J. Anderson are the only two still with the Broncos.
McCray spent the 2013 season on the IR. In 2014 he made the team out of training camp and appeared in 13 of 16 regular season games - mostly as a special teams contributor.
The good:
McCray is a phenomenal athlete with a good combination of speed, strength, smarts and drive. When he was healthy in college, he excelled. During the one game where he got extended playing time last season (against Oakland), McCray was very impactful, contributing a sack, a pass defended and a forced fumble.
McCray had 121 defensive snaps last season (11.2%) and 201 special teams snaps (40.9%). He was our 10th most-used special teams player last season, but among the backup linebackers, he was the least-used on special teams (Lamin Barrow, Corey Nelson and Steven Johnson all had more special teams snaps than McCray).
The bad:
McCray hurt his groin very early in training camp this season (day 5) and he has been out ever since. This adds to a growing list of injuries that have kept him on the sidelines during his career. The coaching staff will need to weigh his injury status and future injury risk against his talent in the next few weeks for him to make the team.
Bill Parcells is quoted as saying, "You can't make the club from the tub" - so an injured backup player is going to have a hard time making the final roster. McCray is also out of practice squad eligibility.
Roster status:
McCray is a talented OLB, but Shaq Barrett may have shown enough in the first preseason game to cost McCray his roster spot this year. It's possible that we try and stash McCray on the IR again this year, but I doubt that happens.