Williams counts for $2.8 million against the salary cap, and cutting him would give Denver $2.1M in cap savings, with the rest being dead money. However, the play differential between Bassey and Williams is worth keeping that contract on the books, and in Klis’ 53-man roster prediction, he mentioned Williams as a candidate to go to IR as he fully recovers, to be designated to return later. If Williams is certain to miss three or more weeks of the regular season, that’s exactly what the Broncos should do.
Another corner candidate is rookie Riley Moss, who’s working back from core muscle surgery. He’s a bit of a different case, as many expected him only to miss a game or two.
However, having Moss sit for two to three weeks would give him extra time to recover. With Williams and Moss, some of the Broncos’ depth options at cornerback had a great preseason, and they could make the team comfortable in accepting the wait time to get Williams and Moss back.
The final secondary player is safety P.J. Locke, who played well in the first preseason game. Since then, he has been sidelined with a lower leg injury.
Locke, the fourth safety, is also a core special teams player. Delarrin Turner-Yell had a strong preseason, and the Broncos also have rookie sixth-rounder J.L. Skinner, and they can look to both of them to replace Locke while he gets healthy.
Locke has been mentioned as an IR candidate by multiple insiders. The timeline for him to return is still five or more weeks away, which would cause him to miss the first four games at least. That makes him a prime candidate to land on IR until he’s good to return.
Then there is Jeudy, who, since suffering a hamstring injury last week, has been mentioned as an IR candidate who could be brought back. However, he’s expected to miss Week 1 and is a long shot to be back for Week 2, but he’s expected back by Week 3.
Hamstring injuries are tricky, however, and can easily be aggravated, which risks the player missing more time. Sidelining Jeudy for at least four weeks on IR with a return designation would give him that extra time to recover, but it would also be a significant blow to the passing game in the wake of Tim Patrick being lost for the season.
Only eight players can be designated to return off IR during a season, so that also plays a factor. Would the Broncos want to place four players on injured reserve with the intent to designate them to return right away? That doesn’t seem very likely.
Using half of the team’s total designation-to-return eligibility to open the season would severely limit its options later on down the road. For that reason, it’s doubtful that Jeudy and Moss find themselves as part of this plan.
Williams and Locke, however, remain prime candidates. This would give them time to get healthy over the course of the ‘softest’ stretch of the Broncos’ schedule during the first six or so weeks.
But Denver would get them back when the tricky part of the schedule really kicks off. Using two spots and leaving four designated return options for later is doable.
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