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The rumor mill is flowing this afternoon that John Elway and the Denver Broncos are going to be looking at shaking up their roster further. The final 53-man roster was set by the deadline, but it was only final for that deadline. Now it is back to being fluid. Elway isn't one to sit back the day after the roster deadline, either.
John Elway has made day-after-cut additions to the 53-man roster in two of his four seasons. Broncos 4 of the last 7 overall.
— Andrew Mason (@MaseDenver) September 5, 2015
The rumors, albeit obvious rumors, are that the Broncos would like to add more depth on their offensive line and defensive line. As well as another tight end. If that's the case, then it makes sense to start looking at some of the players cut from around the league who play at those positions. I feel like offensive line is where the biggest need is, so let's take a look.
Must Reads
If I were going to be digging through the proverbial garbage heap, then I'd probably target the wealthiest homes. In terms of offensive lineman, I'd want to go pick up some talent from the teams with the best offensive lines. According to Sports Illustrated, that would be the Dallas Cowboys, Baltimore Ravens, Cincinnati Bengals and Green Bay Packers. Then again, some teams just make stupid decisions, so I will expand my search to other teams as well.
I'll pull each players Pro Football Focus grade this preseason as well, to see if there might be some potential there (min of 25 snaps).
RT De'Ondre Wesley (-0.4 Pass Block, -0.4 Run Block). He is a 6'7" 330 lb rookie UDFA out of BYU. Cut by the Baltimore Ravens. Only had 25 snaps, so he might not be a good option.
RT Laurence Gibson (-1.4 Pass Block, -0.4 Run Block). He is a 6'6" 297 lb seventh round pick out of Virginia Tech. Cut by the Dallas Cowboys. He was grading out well until the final preseason game where he was abused, posting a -2.2 grade while playing the entire game.
C Shane McDermott (-0.1 Pass Block, 0.0 Run Block). He is a 6'4" 300 lb rookie UDFA out of Miami. Cut by the Dallas Cowboys. He was inconsistent throughout the preseason, but finished the preseason with a strong +3.4 OFF grade.
C Jake Smith (-0.7 Pass Block, +0.5 Run Block). He is a 6'4" 304 lb rookie UDFA out of Louisville. Cut by the Cincinnati Bengals. He was fairly consistent in his grades in limited action all preseason. He played only 72 snaps in four games.
C Andy Phillips (+1.2 Pass Block, +0.3 Run Block). He is a 6'3" 306 lb rookie UDFA out of Central Michigan. Cut by the Green Bay Packers. He posted a positive pass blocking grade in each of his four preseason games, but offset that with negative run blocking grades in three of the four. Overall, he was received a solid +2.1 from PFF.
RT Matt Feiler (-0.3 Pass Block, +1.6 run Block). He is a 6'6" 330 lb second year player out of Bloomsburg. Cut by the Houston Texans. He was moved around a lot this preseason, but he caught my eye for the work he did while playing right tackle.
RT Derek Sherrod (-0.4 Pass Block, -0.6 Run Block). He is a 6'5" 321 lb fourth year player out of Mississippi State. Cut by the Kansas City Chiefs. After playing poorly in the first preseason game, he worked his way back up into the green by the end of the preseason. I also wouldn't mind picking up a guy cut by a division rival.
RT Pierce Burton (-1.7 Pass Block, +2.1 Run Block). He is a 6'6" 305 lb second year player out of Mississippi. Cut by the Atlanta Falcons. I really like this guy. All of his grades were brought down by a horrendous final preseason game where he played at left tackle. However, he played all of his other preseason games at right tackle, posting a +2.2 and a +1.9 grade in two of those games where he saw heavy playing time. He could be a good option to backup the right side of the Broncos line.
One thing I definitely learned while perusing through the poorly-named "garbage heap" is that I needed to adjust my bias of what a good PFF grade was. I saw grades in the double digit negative out there for offensive lineman looking for work. These were some of the better graded guys available, so definitely take that into consideration.
Do any of these guys look like good depth options for the offensive line?