Tag: essang bassey

Chargers’ Derwin James has snaps significantly reduced vs. Bills

The future role of Derwin James is one the biggest questions.

Chargers safety Derwin James had a reduced role against the Bills.

With a large majority of snaps that took place at slot corner and near the box, James played the fewest snaps of his career, excluding injuries/ejections. 41 snaps was the fewest played for the former All-Pro in a game since he was ejected against the Colts.

Earlier in the week, interim head coach Giff Smith did talk about potential changes to Brandon Staley’s defense. On Tuesday, Smith did hint at personnel changes:

We’re going to put the best guys out there in the best position to have the opportunity to stop Buffalo and give us a chance to win.

James played over 50% of his 41 snaps at slot corner specifically. It’s the continuation of a gradual trend of having him play fewer of the deep aspects of the safety position, effectively limiting him to the box. James also registered his third consecutive game with a PFF grade lower than 45.0.

Notably, he was on the sideline on a 3rd and 8 play when Essang Bassey was playing the slot against Stefon Diggs. The Bills would convert against Bassey and effectively ice the game from there.

The firings of Tom Telesco and Staley will produce a domino effect of roster decisions going forward. One has to wonder where that leaves James in the shuffle if his snaps were immediately reduced the game after Staley’s ouster. Not to mention, is James comfortable with a slot majority role? The constant changes in his role this year are not something generally seen with the highest-paid players at their respective positions leaguewide.

From the Chargers’ standpoint, is it worth it to pay James as the most expensive safety in the league when they’re no longer using him as the Swiss Army Knife-esque key to their defense anymore?

New Chargers leadership will have many questions to answer, but the future role of James remains perhaps the biggest question regarding defensive roster construction.

Ja’Quan McMillian continues to shine in the slot for Broncos

The Broncos seem to have found another gem in cornerback Ja’Quan McMillian.

The Denver Broncos made a surprising move on Oct. 3 when they cut Essang Bassey. It was a surprise at the time because Bassey had been the team’s slot cornerback through the first three games of the season, playing in nickel packages.

After seeing the performance of Bassey’s replacement, the decision is no surprise in hindsight.

Ja’Quan McMillian has been playing in the slot since Week 4 and he has impressed. McMillian’s in-season rise was no surprise to defensive coordinator Vance Joseph.

“He had a great spring, so I’m not surprised that he’s playing so well right now in the fall,” Joseph said on Oct. 19. “He’s a young guy who’s open-minded. He takes coaching every day. He’s the same guy every day. He works hard. He can tackle, and he can cover.

“He’s a perfect nickel profile for this defense. He’s improving every single day. His communication is getting better, and his confidence is getting better. The more he’s played, he’s improved, so that’s the key for him. It’s been fun to watch him play and play well.”

McMillian made his NFL debut in Denver’s season finale last year and he played well and should have been awarded an interception. He grabbed his first official interception in a 24-9 upset win over the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 8.

“I think he’s starting to play confidently,” Broncos safety Justin Simmons said of McMillian after the Chiefs game. “Any time you can go out there and play confidently, you play faster and things slow down for you. He’s getting into a rhythm and a flow, and his preparation in terms of his film study throughout the week and asking questions.

“I think he does such a good job of feeling what the offense is trying to give him and how they’re trying to set it up. …  I think ‘J-Mac’ just did a good job kind of playing what he was seeing and playing confidently and playing fast.”

McMillian, 23, has totaled 23 tackles (including five behind the line of scrimmage), two pass breakups and one interception through five games in the slot. McMillian has emerged as a key member of the secondary and it looks like the slot cornerback job could be locked up for the foreseeable future.

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5 changes that turned the Broncos’ defense around

How did Vance Joseph fix the Broncos’ defense? These five changes were crucial.

Four games into the 2023 season, the Denver Broncos had a historically bad defense, leading many fans and pundits to call for defensive coordinator Vance Joseph to be fired.

Broncos head coach Sean Payton stuck with Joseph, though, giving him time to turn things around. Payton’s patience in Joseph has seemingly paid off as Denver’s defense has turned a corner in recent weeks.

After being blasted by the Miami Dolphins 70-20 in Week 3, Denver’s defense had another poor showing against the Chicago Bears in Week 4, but the Broncos did manage to win that game 31-28. The Broncos allowed 31 points again the following week in a 31-21 loss to the New York Jets.

Since that Jets game, Denver’s defense has allowed 19, 17 and 9 points over the last three weeks, and two of those games were against the Kansas City Chiefs. So what changed on defense? How did the Broncos go from allowing 70 points in Miami to allowing just 9 points to Kansas City?

We don’t know the ins and outs of Denver’s scheme, but it’s easy to track personnel changes. Here’s a quick look at five big changes that have turned the Broncos’ defense around.

Chargers claim CB Essang Bassey

The Chargers added a cornerback in wake of J.C. Jackson being traded to the Patriots.

In wake of trading J.C. Jackson to the Patriots, the Chargers claimed Essang Bassey off waivers from the Broncos.

In correspondence, Los Angeles waived defensive tackle Christopher Hinton.

Bassey has played with the Bolts before, appearing in one game and amassing a tackle in the 2021 season.

Bassey began his professional career in 2020 with Denver as an undrafted free agent out of Wake Forest.

In 31 career games with the Broncos, Bassey made four starts and totaled 46 tackles, an interception, four tackles for loss, four passes defended and a fumble recovery.

Broncos made several roster moves this week

The Broncos will make several moves this week: Tre’Quan Smith and Dwayne Washington are in. Randy Gregory and Essang Bassey are out.

Story update: Before the Randy Gregory release became official, the team instead traded him to the 49ers for a late-round draft pick. See our original post below. 

The Denver Broncos have had a busy week of transactions.

The moves started Tuesday when the team signed wide receiver Tre’Quan Smith to the practice squad and released receiver Michael Bandy to make room for him. Denver also waived cornerback Essang Bassey on Tuesday.

After that, the Broncos promoted running back Dwayne Washington from the practice squad to the 53-man roster, then they re-signed Bandy to the practice squad on Wednesday.

Denver also plans to release outside linebacker Randy Gregory, but that move is not official at the time of publication.

Additionally, Denver designated pass rusher Baron Browning safety P.J. Locke to return to practice, opening a 21-day window for both players to return to the active roster.

More roster moves might be on the way later this week as offensive tackle Alex Palczewski (hand) and cornerback K’Waun Williams (ankle) are also eligible to return from injured reserve.

If any players are activated from IR or the PUP list to the 53-man roster, the Broncos will have to make corresponding moves to make room for them. In the meantime, here’s a quick look at the roster moves the club made between Tuesday and Wednesday.

Broncos stock up/down: Risers and fallers after final preseason game

Albert Okwuegbunam headlines the list of Broncos players with rising stock following the team’s preseason finale.

The Denver Broncos finally secured a win on Saturday night, a 41-0 shutout of the Los Angeles Rams in the final preseason game. Although it won’t show up in the official standings, it marked head coach Sean Payton’s first win as Broncos head coach. Today, we take a look at five stocks that went up through the game (no stock down this week).

5 takeaways from Broncos’ 41-0 drubbing of Rams

Here are our takeaways from the Broncos’ win over the Rams on Saturday.

The Denver Broncos finally won their first game in 230 days with a 41-0 blowout of the Los Angeles Rams on Saturday. The victory gave head coach Sean Payton his first win as a Bronco, which is a nice milestone to achieve, especially in front of a home crowd. Today, we look at five takeaways from the win.

3 takeaways from Broncos’ 18-17 loss to Cardinals

Broncos Country, do you agree with these takeaways?

The Denver Broncos suffered a last-minute loss at the hands of the Arizona Cardinals in their first preseason game of 2023 on Friday evening. Here are three takeaways from the first action of 2023 for the Broncos.

Broncos stock up/down: Risers and fallers after first preseason game

Broncos Wire examines five risers and fallers from their first preseason game against the Arizona Cardinals

After the Denver Broncos’ first preseason game, an 18-17 loss against the Arizona Cardinals, we take a look at biggest risers and fallers from the game.

Broncos expected to re-sign CB Essang Bassey

The Broncos are re-signing cornerback Essang Bassey to a one-year contract.

The Denver Broncos are “finishing up” the final touches on a one-year contract for cornerback Essang Bassey to return in 2023, according to a report from KUSA-TV’s Mike Klis.

This is a notable development given that Klis reported two days ago that Bassey appeared set to leave Denver in free agency. Instead, the Broncos have managed to re-sign the 24-year-old cornerback.

Bassey (5-10, 190 pounds) was a top undrafted free agent signing for Denver in 2020. After appearing in 13 games as a rookie, Bassey was sidelined by injury for most of the 2021 season. After he recovered, Bassey had a brief stint with the Los Angeles Chargers late in the 2021 season after the Broncos waived him in an attempt to get him down to the practice squad.

The Chargers later waived Bassey themselves and Denver was able to re-sign him. Through three seasons in the NFL, Bassey has totaled 39 tackles, four pass breakups and one interception. He also played 62% of the Broncos’ special teams snaps last season.

We are tracking all of Denver’s free agency moves on Broncos Wire.

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