J.J. Dielman joined the Denver Broncos practice squad last season after a slew of injuries to the offensive line depth late that season. Dielman suffered a knee injury on August 13th and has not practice since, which led to this decision by the Broncos to waived/injury him on Friday.
Broncos waived/injured OL J.J. Dielman. #9sports
— Mike Klis (@MikeKlis) August 31, 2018
Dielman, 24, was a player that Head Coach Vance Joseph and his staff coveted in teh 2017 NFL Draft where the Cincinnati Bengals took him in the fifth-round.
Earlier this March, Joseph raved about Dielman saying, “J.J. Dielman was a guy that we coveted in the draft. That Utah line that came out a year ago had four guys drafted. All four of those played, except for J.J. because he was injured a little bit and went to Cincinnati on [its] practice squad. The rest of those guys played. They were all drafted. That was the best college line in football. He was a great leader in college. You asked all of those kids who would you take with you from your college O-Line, it was always J.J. Dielman, and he was the lowest-drafted guy. From a leadership standpoint, he was the guy. That’s important when you’re a center. He’s played guard and he’s also played tackle as a sophomore in college. I’m looking forward to getting him on the field because he was a guy that we really, really liked. We tried to get him a couple of times out of Cincy during the year. We failed the first time, but got him to us the second time. Him and Bolles are really tight. That’s always a good thing to have one of your buddies there that can push you behind the scenes to be a better player. We’re excited about him. Again, he’s played center, he’s played guard and he’s also played some right tackle. We’re excited to see what he can bring.”
Hopefully the Broncos can stash him back on the practice squad for the 2018 season if he clears waivers and gets healthy.