The dead­line for NFL teams to sub­mit their ini­tial 53-man ros­ter to the league office is Sat­ur­day at 2 p.m. Fol­low along today for updates and analy­sis of the Bron­cos’ moves.

9:44 a.m. — OLB Der­rek Tusz­ka, OT Dar­rin Paulo waived

The Bron­cos have waived sev­enth-round out­side line­backer Der­rek Tusz­ka accord­ing to a source. The North Dako­ta State alum was switch­ing from 4–3 defen­sive end to 3–4 out­side line­backer. He’s also a prac­tice squad candidate.

Offen­sive tack­le Dar­rin Paulo has also been waived accord­ing to a source. Paulo was acquired last week from New Orleans via waivers.

9:34 a.m. — S P.J. Locke waived

Accord­ing to his agency, safe­ty P.J. Locke has been waived, but the Bron­cos are inter­est­ed in sign­ing him to the prac­tice squad.

Locke’s release after a sol­id train­ing camp is prob­a­bly good news for fourth safe­ty Ali­jah Hold­er, who missed a good chunk of camp with a soft tis­sue injury.

9:28 a.m. — WR Trinity Benson waived

The Bron­cos have waived receiv­er Trin­i­ty Ben­son accord­ing to a source. Ben­son spent all of 2019 on the Bron­cos’ prac­tice squad.

8:53 a.m. – ILB Josh Watson waived

A source says the Bron­cos are waiv­ing inside line­backer Josh Watson.

A Col­orado State alum, Wat­son was in camp last sum­mer and start­ed the year on the prac­tice squad before get­ting promoted.

Watson’s chances to make the ini­tial ros­ter this year end­ed when the Bron­cos signed Mark Bar­ron last week­end and acquired Austin Cal­itro in a trade from Cincin­nati on Friday.

Wat­son does make sense to return to the prac­tice squad if he clears waivers.

7:44 a.m. – Setting up the day

NFL ros­ters must be reduced to 53 play­ers by 2 p.m. today. The Bron­cos’ ros­ter cur­rent­ly stands at 79 players.

Some points about the day:

1. We’ll put it in ALL CAPS — today is the INITIAL 53-man ros­ter. Chances are, the Bron­cos’ 53-man ros­ter tonight won’t be the same as the 53-man ros­ter tomor­row night.

2. Any play­er placed on injured reserve today is inel­i­gi­ble to play this year. Play­ers on today’s 53-man ros­ter who are placed on injured reserve Sun­day can return to play. When the new CBA was authored in March, it allowed for a max­i­mum of three play­ers to be pro­mot­ed from IR after eight weeks. Because of the coro­n­avirus, an unlim­it­ed num­ber of play­ers can be brought back from IR (plus non-foot­ball injury and COVID-19/re­serve list) after three weeks.

3. The two des­ig­na­tions for today will be “released” and “waived.” Play­ers with less than four years of ser­vice are “waived” — they must go through waivers and are sub­ject to being claimed. Vet­er­an play­ers who are “released” — like Todd Davis on Fri­day — can sign with a team immediately.

4. The 16-man prac­tice squad will be con­struct­ed on Sun­day once the waiv­er claims process is com­plete around late morn­ing. Six of those spots can be used for vest­ed vet­er­ans (at least four years’ experience).