The Denver Broncos announced two transactions on Friday as one key player on defense returns to the lineup and another important figure on special teams is questionable.
Denver signed long snapper Thomas Gafford in the wake of Casey Kreiter’s calf injury, which came to light Wednesday. The Broncos waived nose tackle Darius Kilgo, partly to make room for Gafford and partly because defensive end Derek Wolfe is returning to health. Wolfe is recovering from a minor fracture in his elbow that caused him to miss the end of the Oakland game in Week 9 and all of Week 10 against New Orleans.
Gafford is a ninth-year player who appeared in 119 regular-season games and two playoff games with Kansas City (2008-14), Chicago (2015) and Oakland (2015).
After appearing in his first NFL game with the Chiefs in 2008, Gafford went on to play in 105 consecutive regular-season contests with the Chiefs before signing with Chicago as an unrestricted free agent in 2015. He played 11 games with the Bears last year before spending the final three weeks of the season with the Raiders.
About Gafford, head coach Gary Kubiak said, “He’s been in the league for a few years. [Special Teams Coordinator] Joe [DeCamillis] knows him. He’s bounced around a few teams, so there’s a lot of work to do catching him up today. He did a good job. He’ll make up some more ground tomorrow.”
Kreiter remains on the roster for the time being. DeCamillis has been pleased with Kreiter’s performance in the first-year long snapper.
“He’s done a great job both from a snap standpoint and protection, the whole nine yards,” DeCamillis said. “He fits in with the team. It was a definite blow to us, but we have to make sure we make up for it and go from there.”
Kilgo was a sixth-round draft pick of the Broncos in 2015. He recorded 11 total tackles in 18 games with the Broncos. Kilgo was active for all 10 games in 2016, appearing in nine, but played just 11.46 percent of defensive snaps on the season.
Kubiak said the move was important to the game plan against Kansas City this week:
“Darius is a good kid. We’ll see what happens when he obviously hits the [waiver] wire. He’s a really good kid. We’ll go from there. It’s just day-to-day problems right now. We’re trying to solve problems and get ready to pay Kansas City.”
Wolfe, Denver’s top interior run stopper, meanwhile, is looking ready to go far ahead of schedule. After missing just two of up to four projected weeks, Wolfe has been a full participant this week. Denver’s versatile defensive line helped make releasing Kilgo less of a concern for Kubiak.
“Derek is fine,” Kubiak said after practice on Friday. “He’s practiced full time since Monday. He’s looks really good. We’ve been going with five [defensive linemen] here lately. It’s kind of been our routine on Sundays.”
The Broncos and Chiefs kick off at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday night. The winner will take control of the top Wild Card spot in the AFC. A Kansas City win and an Oakland loss would put the Chiefs in first place in the AFC West.
