Broncos veteran wide receiver just made it extremely difficult for young player to crack roster

Travis Wakeman

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Broncos veteran wide receiver just made it extremely difficult for young player to crack roster image

The Denver Broncos had an up-and-down performance in their preseason opener on Saturday night, but left Levi's Stadium with a 30-9 victory. One of the biggest takeaways from this game was the play of veteran wide receiver Trent Sherfield. 

Sherfield was signed as a free agent during the offseason, brought in primarily for his ability to play special teams. Generally, when a team has a strong special teams player, if they can contribute much of anything on offense or defense, they are a solid bet to be part of the roster. 

Sherfield, a wide receiver by trade, had a huge night on Saturday in Santa Clara. He caught three passes for 73 yards and made this spectacular catch for a touchdown. 

The plays made in this game by Sherfield will go a long way in determining how the team constructs its final roster at the wide receiver position. The Broncos have some great young options at the position who have turned heads in camp this summer, including Joaquin Davis, Courtney Jackson and Kyrese Rowan. However, all three of them are likely playing for spots on the practice squad after this game.

The reason why is that, in all likelihood, the Broncos are going to keep six wide receivers on the 53-man roster. Five of those spots belong to Courtland Sutton, Marvin Mims Jr., Troy Franklin, Devaughn Vele and Pat Bryant. 

READ: Taysom Hill could fall right into the Denver Broncos' lap

Sherfield is going to be No. 6 and, because of his experience, will likely be higher on the depth chart than No. 6 when the season kicks off. 

Guys like Davis, Jackson and Rowan will be exciting players to stash on the practice squad, but they'll have to clear waivers first. There's a chance they could do enough to impress during the remaining preseason games to show another team in the league they are worth a waiver claim. 

It's a numbers game in the NFL and building a roster has plenty of challenges. 

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Travis Wakeman

Travis Wakeman has been covering the NFL since 2012 when he started with Bleacher Report. After reporting about the Broncos there until 2016, he joined the FanSided network as a site expert covering the San Diego/Los Angeles Chargers while simultaneously covering the Broncos at Broncos Wire when that site launched. He then took over the Broncos site at FanSided in March 2020 and covered the team there until spring of 2024. A lifelong Broncos fan and fan of the game, Travis is filled with sometimes useless NFL knowledge, but it always serves him well in any trivia contest. You can follow him on Twitter/X @traviswakeman10.