Broncos Release CB De'Vante Bausby to Make Room for DeMarcus Walker
The Denver Broncos have made several roster moves in recent days, mostly in order to bring back players who have been on injured reserve over the last few weeks of the season.
But that leads to the numbers game with other players on the roster. And it appears cornerback De'Vante Bausby has been caught on the wrong end of that roster math again, as the Broncos announced that he's been released on Saturday. 9NEWS' Mike Klis was the first to report.
Earlier this week, the Broncos cut defensive linemen Timmy Jernigan and Sylvester Williams in order to make room for A.J. Bouye and Dre'Mont Jones coming off injured reserve. Meanwhile, after discussing it with his staff, head coach Vic Fangio has opted to also activate D-lineman DeMarcus Walker off IR, which necessitated one more cut to the 53-man roster.
Bausby was cut at the of training camp, then re-signed to the Broncos' practice squad. He was later called up to the active roster after No. 1 cornerback Bouye was injured, then got more snaps on defense after undrafted rookie Essang Bassey struggled.
When Bausby received more defensive snaps, Bassey saw more time on special teams. It's worth noting Bausby didn't play a single special teams snap against the New England Patriots in Week 6, after getting plenty of work in the previous three games.
While Bausby has been better on defense than Bassey this season, it may be that Bassey has found his niche on special teams and the Broncos don't want to lose that.
Meanwhile, cornerback Davontae Harris missed two games because of injury, but his playing time this season has been almost entirely on special teams. It's likely he's sticking around because he's demonstrated value there whereas Bausby has not.
It's easy to forget the importance of special teams — most fans don't notice it until something goes wrong with it. Still, it's hard to see Bausby not stick around, given that he's done some good things on defense.
But with rookie third-rounder Michael Ojemudia and Bryce Callahan playing well this season, it was going to be hard for Bausby to see the field once Bouye was ready to play.
It wouldn't be surprising to see Bausby re-signed back to the practice squad, and if the need arises in the future, he'll be available to be promoted back to the active roster. At this stage, it's a little too soon for Broncos fans to close the book on him just yet.
The Broncos also announced on Saturday that both Bouye and Jones have officially been activated off IR to the 53-man roster.
Follow Bob on Twitter @BobMorrisSports and @MileHighHuddle.
