The Broncos have waived 25-year old safety Kyle McCarthy.  He played in 2 games for the Broncos last year and he had 1 tackle.  He played in 10 games in his first two years with the Broncos and he had 5 tackles.  The Broncos won’t miss McCarthy at all moving forward this year.

22-year old rookie LB Von Miller had surgery to repair torn ligaments in this thumb.  He is still going to try to play this weekend against the Vikings, but I think he will miss the game.  Miller has played in 11 games for the Broncos so far this year and he has 58 tackles, 7 tackles for a loss, 10.5 sacks, 3 forced fumbles and 4 passes defensed.  The Broncos hope that Miller gets well soon, because he’s the one defensive player that they can’t replace.

The Broncos have lost 24-year old cornerback Cassius Vaughn for the rest of the season as he has been placed on I.R. due to a broken fibula.  Vaughn played in 8 games for the Broncos this year and he had 20 tackles, 4 passes defensed, 1 tackle for a loss, 1 fumble recovery and a interception that he returned for a TD.  He has now played in 21 games in two years with the Broncos and he has 28 tackles, 3 fumble recoveries, 1 interception (TD), 4 passes defensed and 1 tackle for a loss.  The Broncos are going to miss Vaughn’s work on special teams as well as in the secondary the rest of this year.

The Broncos have waived 29-year old QB Kyle Orton.  Orton played in 5 games (all starts) for the Broncos this year and he completed 91 of 155 passes (58.7%) for 979 yards with 8 TD passes and 7 INTs (75.7 QB Rating).  He has also carried the ball 5 times for 17 yards (3.4 ypc) for the Broncos this year.  Orton played in 34 games (33 starts) in his three years with the Broncos and he completed 720 of 1,194 passes (60.3%) for 8,434 yards with 49 TD passes and 28 INTs (85.7 QB Rating).  He also carried the ball 53 times for 92 yards (1.7 ypc) with 3 TD runs for the Broncos.  This puts a lot of pressure on Tim Tebow, who now doesn’t have to look over his shoulder anymore.  Plus, Brady Quinn will have to step up as the new #2 QB of the Broncos.  The Broncos should have dealt Orton before the season started as they won’t get anything for him now.

UPDATE:  The Broncos might not have cut Kyle Orton loose if they knew the Chiefs would claim him.  The Broncos have to play the Chiefs on January 1st in Denver.

The Broncos have placed 24-year old RB Knowshon Moreno on the Injured Reserve List due to a torn right ACL, ending his season.  Moreno played in 7 games for the Broncos this year and he carried the ball 37 times for 179 yards (4.8 ypc).  He also caught 11 passes for 101 yards (9.2 avg) with 1 TD grab.  Moreno has now played in 36 games in his first three years with the Broncos and he has carried the ball 466 times for 1,905 yards (4.1 ypc) with 12 TD runs.  He has also caught 76 passes for 686 yards (9.0 avg) with 6 TD grabs in his career.  This is a big blow to the Broncos due to the style of offense they are running right now.

Sure, the Broncos recently dealt Brandon Lloyd, but that’s no excuse for why the team isn’t getting much production out of it’s WRs.  Eric Decker has been the only Broncos’ WR who has played pretty well this year.  He has caught 24 passes for 287 yards (12.0 avg) with 4 TD grabs for far this year.  Decker migh be the best WR on the Broncos, but he’s not a go-to type.  Matt Willis has caught 7 passes for 101 yards (14.4 avg) with 1 TD grab, but Tim Tebow likes throwing to him, so his numbers might be on the upswing in the coming weeks.  Eddie Royal has been the forgotten man for the Broncos this year as he has only caught 6 passes for 65 yards (10.8 avg) so far this year.  Demaryius Thomas made his 2011 debut last weekend and he caught 3 passes for 27 yards (9.0 avg) with 1 TD grab.  Look for Thomas to have a big role in the passing game in the very near future.  The Broncos need these guys to step up.

Starting RB Willis McGahee has a fractured hand which could cause him to miss some time.  He is the Broncos’ leading rusher so far this year with 460 yards on 103 carries (4.5 ypc) with 1 TD run.  McGahee has also caught 11 passes for 49 yards (4.5 avg) with 1 TD grab so far this year.  If McGahee misses some P.T., Knowshon Moreno and Lance Ball will have to step up.  Moreno has carried the ball 17 times for 54 yards (3.2 ypc) and he has caught 8 passes for 92 yards (11.5 avg) with 1 TD grab.  He has the potential to handle a heavier workload than Lance Ball can.  Ball has carried the ball 15 times for 54 yards (3.6 ypc) and he has also caught 5 passes for 26 yards (5.2 avg) with 1 TD grab so far this year.  There is still hope that McGahee might try to gut it out and play with his injury.

UPDATE:  Willis McGahee will miss the next 1-2 weeks as he had surgery to repair his hand earlier today.

The Broncos have dealt 30-year old WR Brandon Lloyd to the Rams for a sixth round pick in the 2012 NFL Draft.  The draft pick upgrades to a fifth round pick if Lloyd catches at least 30 passes in the Rams’ last 11 games (that is likely).  Lloyd played in 4 games for the Broncos this year and he caught 19 passes for 283 yards (14.9 avg) without a TD grab.  He played in 22 games in his three years with the Broncos and he caught 104 passes for 1,848 yards (17.8 avg) with 11 TD grabs.  This deal puzzles me as the Broncos are dealing Lloyd right before Tim Tebow gets his first start of the year.  Are the Broncos trying to sabotage Tebow?

Broncos’ head coach John Fox has announced that 24-year old Tim Tebow is his new starting QB going forward.  Tebow almost brought the Broncos back last Sunday against the Chargers.  He has played in 3 games so far this year for the Broncos and he has completed 4 of 10 passes (40%) for 79 yards with 1 TD pass and 0 INTs (101.7 QB Rating).  Tebow also has carried the ball 7 times for 37 yards (5.3 ypc) with 1 TD run so far this year.  Tebow has now played in 12 games in his first two years with the Broncos and he has completed 45 of 92 passes (48.9%) for 733 yards with 6 TD passes and 3 INTs (84.2 QB Rating).  Tebow has also carried the ball 50 times for 264 yards (5.3 ypc) with 7 TD runs.  The Broncos hope that Tebow can jumpstart the offense while finally getting the crowd behind the home team.  28-year old Kyle Orton will be the #2 QB for the Broncos moving forward.  He has played in 5 games for the Broncos so far this year and he has completed 91 of 155 passes (58.7%) for 979 yards with 8 TD passes and 7 INTs (75.7 QB Rating).  Orton has also carried the ball 5 times for 17 yards (3.4 ypc) so far this year.

The Broncos have placed 28-year old DT Kevin Vickerson on the Injured Reserve List due to a ankle injury.  Vickerson played in 5 games for the Broncos this year and he only had 4 tackles.  Vickerson has now played in 20 games in his first two years with the Broncos and he has 46 tackles, 2 sacks, 1 forced fumble, 1 interception, 3 passes defensed and 2 tackles for a loss.