STEPHENSON RECLAIMS JOB AT RIGHT TACKLE
The threat of a football player losing his job is often enough to change his routine. That’s what happened to Broncos offensive lineman Donald Stephenson, who has reclaimed his full-time starting right tackle position from Ty Sambrailo.
“Donald has been consistent the last two weeks,” Broncos coach Gary Kubiak said Monday. “He’s been pretty consistent in what he’s done. Hopefully he continues to improve.”
Denver’s play at right tackle has been problematic all season, but Stephenson hopes he can change that.
“I know I have the talent to do better than what I’m doing,” he said. “I was brought here because they knew what kind of pass rushers we’re going to have to see this year, so I’m not going to make excuses. I just have to raise my level of competition and do what I was brought here to do.”
Stephenson was benched Nov. 13 in New Orleans in the midst of his second consecutive subpar game. Sambrailo replaced him and played well for the rest of the game, earning him a start the next week against Kansas City.
“It definitely woke me up,” said Stephenson, who said he looked at film from a year ago and found small technique errors he has worked to correct. “I hadn’t really been in that position before, so it made me really take a look at what I needed to fix.”
Mo’ money.
The NFL Players Association released updated salary cap cash spending figures Monday. The data revealed the Broncos have spent the second-most cash on their players over the past four seasons. The total salary cap for each team from 2013-16 was $554.55 million. The NFL requires teams to spend at least 89 percent of the cap, or in this case $493,549,500. The Broncos spent $587,712,791 in cash on players in that span, which is more than $43 million over the league average.
The Oakland Raiders are the only team yet to reach the salary cap cash spending floor for the four-year period. They are a little more than $2 million shy of the requirement.
Footnotes.
Linebacker Brandon Marshall is dealing with a hamstring injury, which leaves his status for Sunday against the Tennessee Titans up in the air. … Defensive lineman Billy Winn is “doing really well,” said Kubiak. Winn suffered a neck sprain on Sunday vs. Jacksonville. He expects to play vs. Tennessee. … Wide receiver Demaryius Thomas (offense), cornerbacks Chris Harris and Aqib Talib (defense) and punter Riley Dixon (special teams) were the Broncos’ players of the game against the Jacksonville Jaguars.