Final preseason grades for all 53 players who made Broncos' 53-man roster revealed

The Denver Broncos have set their 53-man roster, though there may be multiple changes that happen during the season. But at least for now it is set.

During the preseason, I highlighted certain players who either graded out highly or poorly and wrote about why that was the case. With the Broncos' roster set, I will go over everyone who made the roster and their collective grade for the preseason.

As always, my grading system is a point-based system where the impact a player has on a given play either earns them or loses them points. How that player impacts the play is taken into account but also how much their performance influenced the overall success of the play will vary the number of points added or taken away.

For example, a receiver blocking opposite of the run won’t have as big of an impact as a lead blocker. The closer a player is to 100, the more perfect his grade is.

So without further ado, here are the collective preseason grades for those Broncos that made the roster and a brief explanation on each.

Note: No one on the practice squad or injured reserve are included.

Joe Flacco, QB: 74.8

He barely played in the preseason, but when he did, he looked solid out there. A few times he missed open receivers in his reads, but he did a good job of finding an open guy and delivering a good pass to them.

Brandon Allen, QB: N/A

Allen was not with the Broncos in the preseason, and due to time constraints, I was unable to put him through my grading system.

Phillip Lindsay, RB: 64.8

Lindsay is expected to be a receiving threat out of the backfield, but there were some issues with that during the preseason. As a runner, he didn’t get much help from the blocking unit to really make much of an impact, but he ran hard and got what he could.

Royce Freeman, RB: 60.0

Every back was hurt by the blocking upfront this preseason, and Freeman was no different. It was hard to see what he could do with getting touched in the backfield on the majority of his carries.

Devontae Booker, RB: 71.9

Booker was the best looking back of the bunch. He was quick to take what was given, which wasn’t much with the blocking he got. With his roster spot in jeopardy, he put together a tough preseason.

Andy Janovich, FB: N/A

Getting hurt halfway through cut his preseason short. There were just not quite enough reps to really put the fullback through the grading system.

Andrew Beck, TE/FB: N/A

Like with Allen and any other new additions, there wasn’t time to put the new guys through my grading system.

Emmanuel Sanders, WR: N/A

Sanders missed too much time with injury to get a fair read for his grade. What he did play was great, and answered plenty of questions before going into the season.

Courtland Sutton, WR: 64.7

The former second-round pick has high expectations from the Broncos, but with what playtime he got, he didn’t quite flash as often as one would hope. What we did see wasn’t bad, and he did have a couple of high-impact plays, but Denver needs more out of him. Should see more opportunities in the regular season.

DaeSean Hamilton, WR: 79.5

Probably the best route runner on the team. Hamilton showed his chops every time he took the field. Separation comes easily and that can be a huge plus when in the red zone.

Tim Patrick, WR: 75.3

For all the hype he got through the offseason some would say he was disappointing. He was actually solid, but just tallied a few chances.

Juwann Winfree, WR: 81.7

The late-round pick for the Broncos was up and down, as expected, but he made enough high-impact plays to really help himself in the preseason.

Diontae Spencer, WR/PR: N/A

He wasn’t with the Broncos and not enough time to put him through my grading system.

Noah Fant, TE: 76.1

It was obvious to see why Denver took him in the first round. He is an athletic tight end that can create mismatches. As for his blocking, he had some low moments, but a lot of high moments as well.

Jeff Heuerman, TE: N/A

Little playing time to really grade him.

Troy Fumagalli, TE: 51.0

It was a rough preseason for Fumagalli. His blocking was consistently poor and for as hyped up as he was as a receiver, he had a couple of bad drops. That isn’t good for someone who was hyped up as having the best hands and was catching everything thrown his way.

Garett Bolles, LT: 47.4

There was one really bad game from Bolles, but he was pretty solid for the other time he played. Still, that one game was bad enough to drag his whole grade down.

Ja’Wuan James, RT: N/A

The new right tackle missed too much to qualify for the grading system, but what we did see of him was not the best.

Elijah Wilkinson, OL: 56.5

His play at tackle was solid as was his play at guard. The issue is there is no consistency to his game, and he doesn’t seem to have a short-term memory and will compound mistakes.

Dalton Risner, LG: 79.9

The rookie was great all preseason long. There were some rookie hiccups, which are to be expected, but he grew from them and rebounded. Lots of promise in this one.

Ron Leary, RG: N/A

Any guesses why there's no Leary grade? Well, the guy who has missed 15 games in two seasons with the Broncos missed all of the preseason with an injury. Yikes.

Austin Schlottmann, OL: 64.8

The reserve offensive lineman had a rough time when he was with the first unit at guard, but his play at center was solid. He grew as the preseason went on and hopefully will keep developing and improve where he needs to.

Connor McGovern, C: 72.7

It was a solid showing from the center. His snapping issues didn’t show up more than a couple times in the games, and they were all early in the preseason. Is he as good as Matt Paradis was? The sample is small, but no he wasn’t. Was it a good enough showing to at least remain hopeful for now? Yes, it was.

Corey Levin, C: N/A

Like the other additions, no time to go over his reps with the Titans and put him through the grading system.

Derek Wolfe, DE: 75.0

The veteran is still the solid player he was. There seemed to be more life as a pass rusher than previous years, but can that last?

Shelby Harris, NT: 90.3

Dominant. There is no other way to put what Harris did during the preseason. This scheme is going to see him put together a great year and get paid by someone.

Adam Gotsis, DE: 83.8

The starter was solid and showed he is a good run defender. One thing that stood out was that there seemed to be more flashes of a pass rusher than previously seen. Can he show that when it matters? Time will tell.

DeMarcus Walker, DL: 67.6

Inconsistency is the name of the game for Walker. The Hall of Fame game was solid, then he disappeared for two games before finally stepping back up. Denver needs him to be more consistent, because if he can, then he could end up a good depth piece.

Dre’Mont Jones, DL: 59.2

The third-round pick showed what he can do, and showed why he was there on day two of the draft. As a pass rusher, he is capable and he showed that, but he was pretty much a liability when it came to the run.

Mike Purcell, NT: 82.1

Even though he turned it on at the right time, Purcell got a slow start in the preseason. His reps earlier on were just okay, but he finished strong enough to make the roster.

Von Miller, OLB: 88.8

The veteran is going to have a lot of help to take over games this year. We got to see flashes of Miller getting after the quarterback, but also saw him drop into coverage quite a bit. Is that a sign of things to come?

Bradley Chubb, OLB: 91.2

The second-year player looks like he is about to take the NFL by storm. He dominated against San Francisco and made their future Hall-of-Fame left tackle look like a rookie. Denver just needs Chubb to carry this over into the regular season.

Justin Hollins, OLB: 89.0

The rookie was asked to learn two positions, which isn’t easy, especially for a rookie. When it came time to show up in games, he did that. Off the edge, or playing off-ball, it didn’t matter. Hollins made an impact on the majority of the plays he was on the field.

Malik Reed, OLB: 95.7

His play made Denver comfortable of giving up on Dekoda Watson. It was against depth guys, but he was tough to handle as a pass rusher. Not only that, he is a quick learner and picking Von Miller's brain on how to better himself as a pass rusher.

Josey Jewell, ILB: N/A

There were not enough reps to grade him, but what few he got were not very inspiring.

Todd Davis, ILB: N/A

Didn’t see action because of injury.

Alexander Johnson, ILB: 60.3

While he was a lot better than where he was a year ago, Johnson still has a lot of work left to do. It's just a matter of getting the technique down, and having the game continue to slow down for him. He showed enough to keep working with him.

Joe Jones, ILB: N/A

Barely saw time before getting hurt and missing the rest of the season.

Corey Nelson, ILB: N/A

Another addition that wasn’t able to get put through the grading system.

Keishawn Bierria, ILB: 41.8

Denver let Josh Watson go and brought back Bierria. Outside of two plays, there was only negative to Bierria’s preseason action, and that includes his special teams play. Meanwhile the undrafted rookie Watson looked quite a bit better on defense and special teams, against the same competition on his way to a 69.5 grade.

Chris Harris, Jr., CB: 84.7

Barley playing enough reps to qualify for corners to be graded, Harris played like the elite form of himself. He has a chance to finally get the recognition he deserves playing in this scheme.

Bryce Callahan, CB: N/A

A foot injury has sidelined Callahan, and was an issue with him during free agency. Concerns over his foot could play a factor into the two new defensive backs.

Isaac Yiadom, CB: 78.2

The former third-round pick looked a lot better than he did a year ago. He still has some issues with speed and shifty route runners, but he is reading and reacting faster to help cover those issues. It seems like the game has slowed down for him.

De’Vante Bausby, CB: 75.1

Hands are a concern with Bausby as he got his hands on a couple balls, but dropped the interception. That was an issue in practice as well. Like Yiadom, he has some concerns with speed and shifty route runners, but he has such a quick close to cover for it.

Duke Dawson, DB: N/A

A new addition.

Devontae Harris, CB: N/A

A new addition.

Kareem Jackson, SS: 80.1

The hybrid defensive back is bringing a valuable chess piece to the Broncos defense. His play in the preseason was very encouraging, despite being used in a very vanilla way.

Justin Simmons, FS: 71.3

Still having issues over-pursuing, and being in the right place sometimes kept Simmons grade a little low. He has ball skills, it a solid athlete, and does well reading the play which can see him be successful in the scheme. That said, he has some flaws in his game that can get him into trouble if he doesn’t cut them out.

Will Parks, S: 79.7

I have doubted Parks, but he seems to have things down with the mental side of the ball that have held him back in previous years. This year should really be a good one for him, if he really has put the mental errors behind him.

Trey Marshall, S: 42.7

It was a really bad showing from Marshall, who was a star in last year's camp. There were issues tackling, reading the play and just playing quick enough in coverage. He managed to make the roster with special teams play.

Specialists Brandon McManus, Colby Wadman and Casey Kreiter play positions that don’t work when going through my grading system.

Follow Erick on Twitter @ErickTrickel and @MileHighHuddle.

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