ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — The Broncos have taken advantage of their waiver claim positioning to add two players to their active roster.
Denver was awarded defensive back Mike Ford off waivers from Detroit and running back Nate McCrary off waivers from Baltimore, the team announced Wednesday.
Ford is a fourth-year player out of Southeast Missouri State who has appeared in 31 career games and made seven starts. He has recorded four pass breakups and 49 defensive tackles during his career. Ford has also played 467 special teams snaps in three years, including 54 percent of those special teams snaps in 2019 and 35 percent of those snaps in 2020.
McCrary, an undrafted rookie from Saginaw Valley State, was the Ravens' leading rusher in the preseason as he carried the ball 42 times for 163 yards and a touchdown. He was named a first-team All-Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference selection in his final season in college, as he averaged 6.3 yards per carry as he posted 1,060 yards and 10 touchdowns on 167 carries. Saginaw Valley State did not play in 2020 due to COVID-19.
The Broncos must make a pair of roster moves to be at the 53-player roster limit. General Manager George Paton said Tuesday the team would place running back Mike Boone and cornerback Michael Ojemudia on injured reserve. Both players would be eligible to return after three weeks.
Paton said after setting the initial 53-man roster on Tuesday that the Broncos would scan through the hundreds of available players.
"Tonight, we're going to get the cuts," Paton said. "We do like our 53-man roster. We're really high on our roster, but we'll sit tonight. We're picking nine in the waiver claims. We're No. 9, so we think we can help us like we'll always do throughout the season. We'll be up most of the night going through all the waiver claims, the trades — all the scenarios. It's quite busy out there, so we'll have a pulse on the league and everything that's going on."
Denver also had two of its former players claimed off waivers, as the Chargers claimed safety Trey Marshall and the Saints claimed fullback Adam Prentice.
Following teams' initial waiver claims, Denver may now assemble its 16-player practice squad.
