BRONCOS

Broncos put Boone on IR and have moves with two 2020 draft picks

Dec 13, 2022, 5:36 PM

DENVER — At the end of a frustrating season, personnel moves typically come faster than a Pro Bowl pass rusher off the edge. So, the fact that the Broncos had a flurry of roster moves Tuesday was not a surprise.

Denver placed RB Mike Boone on injured reserve, released DL McTelvin Agim from the practice squad and saw the departure of OL Netane Muti, who the Las Vegas Raiders signed to their 53-player roster.

Boone’s season is officially complete. The minimum stay on injured reserve is four games; that is all the Broncos have left. He suffered his second high-ankle sprain of the season in last Sunday’s 34-28 loss to Kansas City.

This will be Boone’s third trip to injured reserve as a Bronco. He started the 2021 season on injured reserve after suffering a quadriceps injury during a joint training-camp practice with the Minnesota Vikings in Eagan, Minn.

Boone ended up missing nine games last season due to injuries and a brief detour to the COVID-19 protocol. He played nine games this year, meaning that at the close of his two Broncos seasons, he will have missed as many games (17) as he played.

The fifth-year veteran RB is also in a contract year, so it is possible he has played his last game for the Broncos. Javonte Williams’ injury makes him Boone a re-signing candidate, but that will be one of a long list of decisions which the Broncos must make in the offseason.

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THE 2020 DRAFTEES

As for Agim and Muti, those moves remove a pair of 2020 draft picks from the roster.

The timing on Muti’s departure is interesting. The sixth-round pick in the 2020 draft started four games in his first two seasons and saw his first action of the 2022 campaign Sunday as a practice-squad activation. He entered the game in the second quarter after Luke Wattenberg struggled in his first career start at left guard.

Muti and Quinn Bailey platooned on a possession-by-possession basis after relieving Wattenberg. Muti played 28 snaps and didn’t allow a sack or a QB hit of Russell Wilson or Brett Rypien.

Agim was one of three third-round picks of the Broncos in 2020. Like Muti, he didn’t make the Broncos’ 53-player roster this season and spent the campaign on the practice squad. Unlike Muti, Agim never got on the field in the regular season this year. He played 17 games in the 2020 and 2021 seasons, finishing with 1.5 sacks.

With Agim and Muti no longer with the Broncos, seven of their 2020 draft picks remain with the team. But just three played in last Sunday’s loss to Kansas City. And one of that trio — fourth-round TE Albert Okweugbunam — played just two snaps, which were his first since Week 5.

One 2020 pick was a healthy scratch: CB Michael Ojemudia (Round 3). Two are on injured reserve: WR KJ Hamler (Round 2) and center Lloyd Cushenberry (Round 3). WR Tyrie Cleveland (Round 7) is on the practice squad. But Round 1 pick Jerry Jeudy had three of the Broncos’ four touchdowns, while fifth-round LB Justin Strnad is a core special-teamer.

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