Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
The Broncos’ 2023 schedule will feature several revenge opportunities for some of the team’s former players.
The Denver Broncos now know their 2023 schedule and it will feature six revenge games with former Broncos facing off against their old team. Here’s a quick look at six games with ex-Denver players on the 2023 schedule.
Jacob Bobenmoyer has left the Broncos to join the Raiders. Elsewhere, Drew Lock re-signed with the Seahawks and Malik Reed landed in Miami.
Three players who spent time with the Denver Broncos in 2022 have found homes in free agency.
Most notably, long snapper Jacob Bobenmoyer — who started 46 games for the Broncos over the last three seasons — signed with the Las Vegas Raiders. It’s possible that Denver might bring in competition this summer, but for now, it appears that Mitchell Fraboni is set to handle long-snapping duties in 2023.
Two other players who the Broncos traded last year have also received new deals in free agency.
Quarterback Drew Lock, who was traded to the Seattle Seahawks last March as part of the Russell Wilson trade, is getting a second contract in Seattle. He is set to serve as a backup again in 2023.
Elsewhere, pass rusher Malik Reed, who was traded to the Pittsburgh Steelers last September, has landed a one-year deal with the Miami Dolphins. Reed will now reunite with defensive coordinator Vic Fangio and outside linebacker Bradley Chubb, who he played with from 2019-2021.
We are tracking all of Denver’s free agency moves on Broncos Wire.
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Raiders add former Broncos LS Jacob Bobenmoyer, officially re-sign 5 others
It was a busy Saturday for the Raiders. Machine gun style, they rattled off several official re-signings by the team. They were as follows:
FB Jakob Johnson
T Jermaine Eluemunor
C Hroniss Grasu
DT Jerry Tillery
LB Curtis Bolton
In addition, the team announced the signing of long snapper Jacob Bobonmoyer, who appeared in 46 games the past three seasons in Denver.
Of particular interest among the returning players is tackle Jermaine Eluemunor. Though the journeyman veteran had been hinting at his return of late.
Kolton and I will be the best Tackle Duo not only in the AFC West but the NFL this upcoming season. I’ll show y’all consistency.
— Jermaine Eluemunor (@TheMainShow_) March 17, 2023
Prior to his proclamation that he and Kolton Miller would be “the best Tackle Duo’ in the league this season, he has simply been talking all along like he was going nowhere despite the team letting him reach free agency before making his return official.
The tackle position has been high on many team need lists for the Raiders this offseason, but Eluemunor has seemingly scoffed at the idea, pointing out that he settled in and played pretty well the latter half of last season.
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Broncos declined RFA tenders for QB Brett Rypien, DB P.J. Locke, CB Essang Bassey and LS Jacob Bobenmoyer, making them free agents.
Brett Rypein wasn’t the only restricted free agent to have his tender declined by the Denver Broncos on Monday.
The Broncos also declined to pick up the one-year, RFA tenders for safety P.J. Locke, cornerback Essang Bassey and long snapper Jacob Bobenmoyer, according to KUSA-TV’s Mike Klis.
Those four players are now set to become unrestricted free agents. It’s still possible that Denver could bring them back for less than the one-year RFA tender salary ($2.63 million).
Locke, in particular, has dressed for 47 games over the last three seasons, logging more than 1,000 snaps on special teams. Locke should be a candidate to return to the team.
The Broncos also declined a one-year, exclusive rights free agent tender for outside linebacker Jonathan Kongbo. Denver did pick up the ERFA tenders for inside linebacker Jonas Griffith, punter Corliss Waitman and offensive lineman Quinn Bailey.
We are tracking all of the team’s free agency moves on Broncos Wire.
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Should the Broncos give one-year tenders to these restricted and ERFA free agents this spring?
In addition to having 17 players scheduled to become unrestricted free agents this spring, the Denver Broncos will also have four restricted free agents (RFAs) and two exclusive rights free agents (ERFAs), according to Spotrac.com.
Players set to become RFAs are eligible for one-year first- ($6,005,000) or second-round ($4,304,000) tenders, or a right of first refusal ($2,627,000) tender (salaries courtesy of OverTheCap.com).
If the Broncos, for example, place a first-round tender on an RFA and that player signed a bigger contract with another team, that club would have to send a first-round pick to Denver for the player. The same concept applies to a second-round tender, and the right of first refusal tender would give the team a chance to match an offer a player might receive from another club.
Players with ERFA statuses are eligible for one-year contracts at the NFL’s minimum salary, and they are not eligible to negotiate with other teams. So if Denver wants to keep their ERFAs, it’s easy to do so.
Here is the full list of Broncos players scheduled to become restricted or exclusive rights free agents this spring.
After losing Jacob Bobenmoyer to an injury, the Broncos signed long snapper Mitchell Fraboni to their practice squad.
After losing long snapper Jacob Bobenmoyer for at least four weeks to a wrist/hand injury, the Denver Broncos brought in 10 long snappers for tryouts this week.
On Monday, the Broncos hosted Turner Bernard, Hunter Bradley, Ryan DiSalvo, Kyle Nelson and Mitchell Fraboni for tryouts.
After that, the team brought in Thomas Fletcher, Joe Fortunato, Brian Khoury, Garrison Sanborn and Rex Sunahara for tryouts on Tuesday.
Fraboni (6-2, 223 pounds) won the tryout and he was signed to the team’s practice squad on Tuesday. He will presumably be tasked with filling in for Bobenmoyer for the next three games.
Denver can elevate Fraboni to the game-day roster up to three times without him having to clear waivers to revert back to the practice squad after each game. That could happen over the next three games, and then the Broncos will have a bye four weeks from now. Bobenmoyer will be eligible to return from injured reserve after the team’s bye week.
Bobenmoyer, 25, has been the team’s long snapper since 2020, starting in 38-straight games before his injury.
Story update: Denver is also expected to sign Joe Fortunato to the practice squad, according to KUSA-TV’s Mike Klis. That would give the Broncos two options for their game against the Los Angeles Chargers on Monday.
To make room for Fraboni and Fortunato on the practice squad, Denver released wide receivers Darrius Shepherd and Vyncint Smith.
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ICYMI: The Broncos placed Garett Bolles, Ronald Darby and Jacob Bobenmoyer on injured reserve this week.
The Denver Broncos added three more players to their injured reserve list earlier this week.
The Broncos officially placed left tackle Garett Bolles (broken leg), cornerback Ronald Darby (torn ACL) and long snapper Jacob Bobenmoyer (wrist/hand) on IR on Monday.
After losing those three players, Denver now has 11 players on IR.
Bolles and Darby will miss the rest of the 2022 season. Bobenmoyer will be eligible to return after sitting out four games.
Bolles is expected to be replaced at left tackle by Calvin Anderson. Darby will likely be replaced at cornerback by Damarri Mathis.
The Broncos filled one of the open roster spots created by those injuries by promoting wide receiver Kendall Hinton from the practice squad to the active roster.
Denver still has three open spots remaining on the 53-man roster after waiving outside linebacker Jonathan Kongbo on Tuesday. The Broncos have three players eligible to return from IR this week who might take those three spots.
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Broncos long snapper Jacob Bobenmoyer is expected to miss “extended time” with a hand/wrist injury.
The injuries just keep coming for the Denver Broncos.
After losing left tackle Garett Bolles and cornerback Ronald Darby to season-ending injuries last week, the Broncos have now also lost their long snapper for multiple games.
Denver long snapper Jacob Bobenmoyer will miss “extended time” with a hand/wrist injury, according to a report from KUSA-TV’s Mike Klis.
Bobenmoyer has been the team’s long snapper since 2020 and before suffering this injury, he played in 38-straight games.
The Broncos brought in nine long snappers for tryouts during the offseason: Ross Reiter, Tucker Addington, Adam Higuera, Antonio Ortiz, Cameron Kaye, Kameron Canaday, Joe Fortunato, Ryan Navarro and Matt Overton. It wouldn’t be surprising to see one of those players signed when Denver places Bobenmoyer on injured reserve.
Elsewhere on the injury front, Broncos quarterback Russell Wilson flew to Los Angeles on Friday to get an injection in his right throwing shoulder. Wilson is dealing with a partially torn lat, but he plans to play in Week 6.
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It seems like the Broncos are looking for a fallback option in case anything happens to Jacob Bobenmoyer during the season.
The Denver Broncos clearly want to have a backup plan at long snapper.
After bringing in four long snappers for tryouts last week, the team hosted five more specialists for tryouts on Wednesday this week, according to the NFL’s transaction wire.
Denver worked out Ross Reiter, Tucker Addington, Adam Higuera, Antonio Ortiz and Cameron Kaye. At the time of this writing, none of the nine long snappers who worked out for the team over the last two weeks have been signed.
The only long snapper currently on the Broncos’ roster is Jacob Bobenmoyer. He has a reasonable salary of $895,000 this season and he’s played well over the last two years, so Bobenmoyer’s job is probably safe.
The fact that Denver hasn’t signed any of these tryout players might be a sign that the team is merely looking for a fallback option in case anything happens to Bobenmoyer during the season. The Broncos might also be looking ahead to the future as Bobenmoyer will become a (restricted) free agent in 2023.
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The Broncos have cut Wes Farnsworth, which presumably means Jacob Bobenmoyer has won long snapping duties.
The Denver Broncos have cut long snapper Wes Farnsworth, according to the NFL’s transaction wire (via The Denver Post‘s Ryan O’Halloran).
Farnsworth (6-1, 240 pounds) worked out for the Broncos in December and signed a reserve/future contract in January. He played linebacker and long snapper for the University of Nevada.
Farnsworth was competing with Jacob Bobenmoyer for the starting job in Denver. With Farnsworth no longer on the team, Bobenmoyer appears to have won the competition two weeks before the start of the NFL season.
After parting ways with Farnsworth, the Broncos have an open spot on the 80-man offseason roster. That spot might go to linebacker/safety hybrid Mark Barron, who visited the team this week. Barron will need to pass multiple COVID-19 tests before officially signing.
Barron will likely replace Justin Strnad as Denver’s coverage linebacker. Strnad was expected to serve as the Broncos’ third-down linebacker this season before suffering a season-ending wrist injury at training camp.
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