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Denver Broncos Week 4 snap analysis

Who stepped up for the Denver Broncos first win and who stepped down?

Denver Broncos v New York Jets Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images

So there were quite a number of significant changes this week, but that seems to be the new normal with all of the injuries to this team.

The game-day inactives were as follows: QB 3 Drew Lock, RB 30 Phillip Lindsay, CB 27 Devontae Harris, G 52 Netane Muti, QB 5 Blake Bortles, TE 85 Albert Okwuegbunam, and OLB 97 Jeremiah Attaochu.

Offense

Player Position game 1 game 2 game 3 game 4
Lloyd Cushenberry III C 100% 100% 100% 100%
Dalton Risner G 100% 100% 100% 100%
Graham Glasgow G 100% 100% 100% 100%
Elijah Wilkinson T 100% 100% 100% 0%
Garett Bolles T 100% 100% 100% 100%
KJ Hamler WR 0% 62% 92% 20%
Noah Fant TE 73% 79% 84% 50%
Tim Patrick WR 85% 65% 84% 76%
Jeff Driskel QB 0% 83% 79% 1%
Jerry Jeudy WR 75% 57% 73% 69%
Melvin Gordon RB 63% 79% 62% 80%
Royce Freeman RB 10% 21% 38% 20%
Jake Butt TE 27% 9% 29% 49%
Brett Rypien QB 0% 0% 21% 99%
DaeSean Hamilton WR 80% 44% 19% 81%
Andrew Beck TE 10% 9% 10% 11%
Tyrie Cleveland WR 8% 0% 6% 3%
Diontae Spencer WR 10% 4% 3% 1%
Austin Schlottmann G/C 0% 0% 0% 0%
Drew Lock QB 100% 17% 0% 0%
Phillip Lindsay RB 32% 0% 0% 0%
LeVante Bellamy RB 0% 0% 0% 0%
Demar Dotson T 0% 0% 0% 100%
Calvin Anderson T 0% 0% 0% 0%
Nick Vannett TE 27% 30% 0% 40%
Courtland Sutton WR 0% 40% 0% 0%

Jeff Driskel played one snap which was a designed run in the red zone. Brett Rypien played the rest of the game at QB.

Melvin Gordon was ridden heavily getting 80 percent of the running back snaps while Royce Freeman got the other 20 percent. Andrew Beck was used on eight offensive snaps almost exclusively near the goal-line. Beck only touched the ball ten time son offense in 2019, but he has yet to touch the ball on offense this year. With three active tight ends playing regularly, Beck has not been used in a TE/H-back role at all and may never be in Pat Shurmur’s offense.

Speaking of tight ends, Noah Fant’s injury limited him to 35 snaps (50 percent) and forced Jake Butt (34 snaps, 49 percent) and Nick Vannett (28 snaps, 40 percent) to be used more heavily. As mentioned above, Albert O. was game-day inactive.

While Demar Dotson was new to the OL starters, the entire offensive line played 100% of the snaps for the fourth straight week. The OL had one of their better games in pass protection.

The WR group saw DaeSean Hamilton take the most snaps with 57 (81 percent), followed by Tim Patrick (76 percent), Jerry Jeudy (69 percent), KJ Hamler (20 percent). Hamler odid not play more because of injury. Tyrie Cleveland (2 snaps) and Diontae Spencer (1 snap) each got token usage.

Offensive players who were active but did not play on offense were Levante Bellamy (who played more than half of the special teams snaps), Jake Rodgers, Austin Schlottmann and Calvin Anderson.

Defense

Player Position game 1 game 2 game 3 game 4
Justin Simmons S 100% 100% 100% 100%
Alexander Johnson ILB 100% 100% 100% 100%
Kareem Jackson S 100% 100% 100% 100%
Bryce Callahan CB 99% 100% 97% 100%
Josey Jewell ILB 98% 97% 91% 95%
Michael Ojemudia CB 79% 100% 97% 100%
Jeremiah Attaochu OLB 74% 62% 38% 0%
Bradley Chubb OLB 73% 86% 71% 77%
Jurrell Casey DE 70% 78% 71% 0%
Essang Bassey CB 56% 72% 57% 48%
Shelby Harris DE 56% 51% 57% 71%
Mike Purcell NT 51% 63% 69% 62%
Dre'Mont Jones DE 47% 31% 0% 0%
Malik Reed OLB 41% 48% 43% 74%
A.J. Bouye CB 35% 0% 0% 0%
DeMarcus Walker DE 21% 6% 0% 0%
Trey Marshall S 1% 0% 3% 0%
Joseph Jones ILB 1% 0% 0% 0%
Duke Dawson CB/S 0% 6% 1% 10%
P.J. Locke S 0% 0% 3% 0%
Derrek Tuszka OLB 0% 0% 0% 6%
Austin Calitro ILB 0% 0% 0% 0%
Davontae Harris CB 0% 0% 0% 0%
De'Vante Bausby CB 0% 0% 0% 51%
Anthony Chickillo OLB 0% 0% 49% 43%
DeShawn Williams DT 0% 0% 40% 39%
McTelvin Agim DT 0% 0% 13% 22%
Timmy Jernigan DT 0% 0% 0% 1%

Five defenders played every snap this week - Bryce Callahan, Justin Simmons, Alexander Johnson, Kareem Jackson and Michael Ojemudia.

Josey Jewell played 95 percent of the defensive snaps and had probably his best game of his young career. Our other active ILBs, Joseph Jones and Josh Watson, did not play on defense.

On our injury-riddled defensive line Shelby Harris played 55 snaps (71 percent) while Mike Purcell (62 percent) and Bradley Chubb (77 percent). Yes, I am starting to classify Chubb as a defensive end. McTelvim Agim (22 percent), DeShawn Williams (39%) and freshly-signed Timmy Jernigan (1 snap) completed the group.

Our OLB group (again counting Chubb as a DE) saw Malik Reed playing 57 snaps (74 percent) with Anthony Chickillo playing 43 percent and Derrek Tuszka playing six percent.

Backup defensive backs who got snaps are De’Vante Bausby (39 snaps, 51 percent), Essang Bassey (37 snaps, 48 percent) and Duke Dawson (10 percent).

Defensive players who were active but did not get defensive snaps were Trey Marshall, P.J. Locke, Joseph Jones and Josh Watson.