Broncos get arms around free agent DT McDonald

In the second wave of free agency, the Broncos added depth on their defensive line and are expected to add competition on special teams.

The team signed Clinton McDonald, a 6-foot-2, 297-pound veteran defensive tackle, to a two-year contract Wednesday and, according to NFL sources are expected to sign kicker Taylor Bertolet and long snapper Christian Kuntz after hosting both on a tryout.

McDonald spent the past four years with the Buccaneers after playing three previous seasons with the Seahawks and one with the Bengals. A former seventh-round pick out of Memphis, McDonald played 14 games last season in Tampa (three starts) and had 29 tackles (18 solo), five sacks, 10 quarterback hits and a pass-breakup. In his eight NFL seasons, he has notched 240 tackles, 19 sacks, 44 quarterback hits, two interceptions, six pass-breakups and five fumble recoveries.

In Denver, he’ll be asked to bolster a defensive line that was depleted in stretches last season because of injuries to ends Jared Crick (back), Billy Winn (knee), Derek Wolfe (neck) and Zach Kerr (knee/ankle). Crick and Winn are both free agents. Bertolet, a former Texas A&M kicker, went undrafted in 2016 but competed with the Los Angeles Rams in training camp that year. He was released before the start of the 2016 regular season and has not played in an NFL game.

The Broncos re-signed veteran kicker Brandon McManus to a three-year contract extension last September, and his $2.25 million salary for 2018 became fully guaranteed last Sunday. The addition of Bertolet was probably for competition heading into the season.

The same goes for Kuntz, an undrafted long snapper out of Duquesne. The Broncos tendered exclusive rights free agent Casey Kreiter, who first joined the Broncos in 2016 and has been their long snapper the past two seasons.