ENGLEWOOD, Colo. – Another day, another roster move on the offensive line for the Denver Broncos.
And with some injuries having an impact on the team’s depth chart at guard at the moment, the Broncos signed rookie guard Mathu Gibson on Friday. That comes a day after the team signed rookie tackle Sam Carlson.
Gibson, who was a four-year starter at Wingate, was measured in at 6-foot-3⅜ and 301 pounds at the Wake Forest pro day in the weeks leading up to the draft. To make room for Gibson on the roster, the Broncos designated guard Sam Brenner as waived/injured.
Brenner suffered a concussion in Sunday’s practice and is currently under the guidelines of the league’s concussion protocol. Should he clear waivers, and he's expected to, he would then be on injured reserve for the Broncos.
“Sam’s got to get well -- he’s doing really well, he’s been in the building last couple days," Broncos coach Gary Kubiak said following Friday’s practice.
In addition to Brenner’s injury, right guard Max Garcia had missed some practice time with a sprained ankle -- Garcia was back in practice Friday -- and left guard Ty Sambrailo is not practicing because of a right elbow injury. Couple that with the Broncos having regulated left tackle Russell Okung's on-field work as he comes back from offseason shoulder surgery and the team hasn’t had its hoped-for starting lineup in place for much of the first eight days of training camp.
Last season the Broncos didn’t play the offensive line combination they used in the regular-season opener in any preseason game and the group rarely practiced together in camp.
But this time around, Kubiak believes there is still plenty of time for the Broncos to get things sorted out.
“They’re all going to be there, but this is training camp," Kubiak said. “I’d love for them to all be working together, and everybody be perfect and healthy, things going on, that’s not happening right now. We’ll get them there eventually. I try to stay focused on the long haul. Like to have all five out there on a perfect day, but we’ll get there."
Also Friday, Kubiak said rookie defensive lineman Adam Gotsis, who suffered an ACL tear on Halloween during his final season at Georgia Tech, was now at “full go" in the team’s practices and is expected to play at least some in the preseason opener Thursday in Chicago.
The Broncos held several of their high-profile starters -- including wide receivers Demaryius Thomas, and Emmanuel Sanders, cornerback Chris Harris Jr., safety T.J. Ward and linebacker Brandon Marshall -- out of practice as a rest day. The team will practice in full pads Saturday morning.
































