Broncos lose OG Sam Jones to the Cardinals' practice squad

The Denver Broncos chose to waive offensive guard Sam Jones on Saturday, 18 months removed from selecting him in the sixth round of the NFL Draft.

The team likely thought he would pass through waivers and he did. In fact, not one player the Broncos waived got claimed off waivers.

However, after passing through waivers, Jones is a free agent with the autonomy to sign with any team who expresses interest. One such team who did pursue Jones, but with the intention of signing him to their practice squad, was the Arizona Cardinals.

Even though Jones is a Colorado boy, his college stomping grounds were at Arizona State. Adding to the allure of the Cardinals' offer were two familiar faces. O-line Coach Sean Kugler and defensive coordinator Vance Joseph now call Arizona home. Jones is hightailing it for the desert, per Mike Klis.

Joseph was the Broncos' head coach who drafted Jones, while Kugler was instrumental in drafting and developing Jones as a rookie. Jones simply didn't jive with new Broncos' OL Coach Mike Munchak, which is why the team waived him.

Comfort zones are a powerful thing. And so the Broncos lose another recent draft pick but that's the risk GM John Elway ran when he placed Jones on waivers.

Jones didn't have a strong preseason but we saw last year what he's capable of. The team instead chose to roster Austin Schlottmann, a college free-agent signing from a year ago.

Happy trails to the one they call 'Aquaman'.

Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadNJensen and @MileHighHuddle.