The Broncos are adding another experienced linebacker. After bringing Micah Kiser in, the team is signing veteran Avery Williamson to its practice squad, Ryan O’Halloran of the Denver Post tweets.
Denver worked out Williamson and Dylan Cole on Tuesday, Mike Klis of 9News tweets, and will give the taxi squad spot to the former.
This has been a mostly quiet year for Williamson, whom the Jets traded to the Steelers just ahead of last year’s deadline. After not being connected to a team this offseason, Williamson did audition for the Jets’ new regime recently. He will join a Broncos team that is down starter Josey Jewell for the season.
Denver has used second-year linebacker Justin Strnad in place of Jewell alongside Alexander Johnson as a starter on the inside but has added Kiser and will now have Williamson in the fold. Williamson, 29, has started 85 games as a pro, doing so with the Titans, Jets and Steelers.
The Jets gave Williamson a nice contract in 2018, signing the former fifth-round pick for three years and $22.5MM. He has four 100-plus-tackle seasons, with the most recent coming last season (111) after a missed 2019 campaign due to an ACL tear. Although Williamson is an off-ball linebacker, he has also been fairly prolific in rushing the quarterback. Williamson has 15.5 career sacks, with the 2020 season being the only one in which he did not record multiple QB drops.
Should Williamson be elevated to the Broncos’ active roster ahead of Sunday’s game, he would face the Steelers, who used him as a four-game starter following last year’s trade. Kiser and rookie third-rounder Baron Browning, however, are currently the team’s second-string linebackers. But reinforcements have been necessary across Denver’s lineup, which is missing several starters after an injury-plagued stretch.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
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