'It's not set yet': Roster spots still up for grabs as Saturday's roster deadline approaches

[Miles]

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — With less than four days before the Broncos must trim their roster to an initial 53-man group, you wouldn't be alone if you figured the battles on the roster bubble had already been wrapped up.


Head Coach Vic Fangio maintained Tuesday, though, that those decisions have not been made in their entirety.


"It's not set yet," Fangio said of the roster. "This year's different in that you're going from 80 to 53. You will have a 16-man practice squad. All those guys that will be on the practice squad you do have to expose to waivers. We haven't had final sit-down discussions about how it's going to look, but we will as this week goes on and as we go through the week. We'll see how it goes. Yeah, there are some choices to be made still."


The Broncos figure to have close competition at a number of roster spots, but it's been more difficult this year for fringe players to prove their value to the team. Without preseason games, many roster hopefuls have had to convince the front office and coaching staff of their talent without the benefit of live action. For defensive players, that means they largely will not have the chance to demonstrate their ability to tackle. On offense, shedding tackles may be left to projection.


Fangio said the team may hold another short-yardage or goal-line period that features live action, but the team has largely decided that the risks of live tackling aren't worth the benefit of just a few reps per player.


After speaking about the need for his team to be "calloused" going into Week 1, Fangio said the lack of live action would be a concern. The balance between preserving a team's health and preparing for a game has been delicate, and Fangio and the Broncos have tried to toe the line.


"It's hard," Fangio said. "It's not an easy decision to make. Part of the thought going into it is we always had the preseason games for that, so you didn't have to worry about it. Now, if you do 12 or 24 live plays between now and game time, how much is that really simulating it? Everybody might get one or two shots. We've just made the decision as an organization to not do it other than outside of some isolated situations. Am I worried about it? Am I concerned about it? Yeah, I am, but that's the choice and decision we've made."


Come Sept. 14, we'll see how the Broncos and Titans each adapt to the unusual circumstances. Cornerback A.J. Bouye, though, admitted it may be a challenge in Week 1 given the inability to completely simulate game action.


"It's very different," said Bouye of the lack of live action during the preseason. "You have some form of tackling we work on, but you don't get that game feel. Without having preseason games this year, it also makes it tough. You never want to go into Week 1 having the expectation that you're going to miss tackles, but we have to do everything we can to be put in position. With the run game, we're doing things. We're making sure we know where our help is when we're tackling and running to the ball, still trying to thud up. Like I said, you can't simulate the game feel."