Broncos Awarded CB De'Vante Bausby Off Waivers

The Broncos were given a chance to get De'Vante Bausby back in the fold as the Football Fates would have it.

The Denver Broncos have been awarded cornerback De'Vante Bausby off waivers on Tuesday after the Arizona Cardinals cut him. The news was first broken by 9NEWS' Mike Klis. 

The team has since confirmed the move. 

The return of 'The Baus' comes at an opportune time as the Broncos' cornerback room is seriously depleted of any and all veteran talent. Although head coach Vic Fangio expressed optimism that starters Bryce Callahan and A.J. Bouye will return this week to play vs. the Las Vegas Raiders, both veteran corners have a checkered injury history. 

The Broncos were without their top-two corners in Week 9's 34-27 loss to the Atlanta Falcons and QB Matt Ryan, being the savvy vet that he is, made them pay for it. Ryan relentlessly targeted Denver's two rookie corners — Michael Ojemudia and Essang Bassey — but the player on the worst end of the losing stick was Davontae Harris. 

Harris was atrocious in Atlanta, but it shouldn't have come as a surprise. It was his first meaningful action of 2020. Harris relinquished multiple big plays in coverage, including a deep touchdown and another 402-yard completion to Olamide Zaccheaus, who made the Falcons completely forget about Calvin Ridley's absence. 

It was bad. And when I say bad, I mean embarrassingly horrible. 

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Ojemudia had his 'welcome to the NFL' moment as a rookie, as the great Julio Jones figuratively broke his ankles on a post-corner route for six. Bassey, playing the nickel, gave up a couple of receptions, but mostly held his own and provided great run support to the Broncos' defense. 

But Denver was lacking veteran wherewithal at corner in Week 9. Having Bausby would have mitigated that exposure significantly. 

After bouncing back and forth from the Broncos' practice squad to the active roster a couple of times, Bausby was released the day before the team's Week 7 home loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. Only a few days later, the Arizona Cardinals swooped him up. 

Bausby appeared in the Cardinals' Week 9 loss to Miami, seeing 16 snaps on defense. The next day, Arizona waived him. 

The Broncos capitalized on the chance to get Bausby back in the fold, perhaps a tad traumatized (and wiser) in the wake of the Atlanta bungling. Bausby is a fifth-year player who's appeared in 20 career games played (3 starts) with Arizona (2020), Denver (2019-20), Philadelphia (2018) and Chicago (2016). 

In five games played this season with the Broncos (4) and Cardinals (1), Bausby has totaled six solo tackles and three passes defensed. All three of those pass break-ups came in the Broncos' Week 4 win over the New York Jets. 

Bausby joined Denver last season and played well in his opportunities in Weeks 3 and 4 before suffering a scary cervical sprain (neck) in Week 5 that caused him to lose feeling in his extremities for 30 minutes. He spent the rest of the year on injured reserve. 

The expectation was that he'd likely start the 2020 campaign as the No. 3 corner on the depth chart, allowing Callahan to play the nickel and Bouye to be the No. 1. But he didn't make the active roster out of camp. 

Ojemudia, the team's 2020 third-round pick, eclipsed him during training camp, and the Broncos for some inexplicable reason (from the outside looking in) prioritized the likes of the aforementioned Harris, as well as Bassey (an undrafted rookie), and Duke Dawson. Although I can't say for certain, my guess is that Vic Fangio and company rue their handling of Bausby this season. 

The bottom line is, when Bausby has been on the field as a Bronco, he's played well. He's a great fit in Fangio's zone-centric coverage schemes, where he can utilize his excellent instincts to read the QB and break on the ball to affect the play. 

What Bausby might lack as a tackler, in this writer's humble estimation, he makes up for in coverage and in his ball-hawking skills. For now, the Broncos can thank their lucky stars that the Football Gods willed Bausby back into the team's grasp. 

In a corresponding move, the Broncos placed tight end Albert Okwuegbunam on injured reserve. The rookie tight end suffered a torn ACL in Week 9's loss. 

Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadNJensen and @MileHighHuddle.