ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- The Denver Broncos, with Vance Walker on injured reserve following a torn right ACL on Aug. 15, moved Sunday to add depth to their defensive line when they agreed to terms with defensive lineman Henry Melton, who is set to enter his seventh NFL season.
Melton, who had two sacks last season for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, was an unsigned free agent. The Broncos worked Melton out Sunday morning at their suburban Denver complex.
He was an unsigned free agent after the Buccaneers elected to let him go when free agency opened in March. Melton was a Pro Bowl selection in 2012 with the Chicago Bears following a 44-tackle, six-sack season.
But since he tore an ACL in 2013 after playing in three games with the Bears he has started four games combined in the last two seasons -- three with Dallas Cowboys in 2014 and one last season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The Broncos have put two defensive linemen -- Phil Taylor and Walker -- on injured reserve already in this preseason.
The Broncos are at their roster limit of 90 players they will have to make a corresponding move to add Melton. The team doesn't have a full practice scheduled for Monday -- the players do have an afternoon team meeting to do with a workout with the strength and conditioning coaches. They will return to the practice field on Tuesday.
With Walker out of the lineup for Saturday night’s preseason game against the San Francisco 49ers and most of the team’s starting defense on the field for one or two series, rookie Adam Gotsis finished with the most playing time among the Broncos’ defensive linemen with 31 snaps, or 51 percent of the defense’s total in the game. Billy Winn, who the Broncos signed earlier in training camp, had 28 snaps and nose tackle Darius Kilgo played 20 snaps.
Broncos coach Gary Kubiak said: “[We] expect a lot of Gotsis and Kilgo; [Kyle] Peko has come a long way. It’s an opportunity for guys to step up, like [Jared] Crick. It’s part of football and we have to make it work."
Crick started against the 49ers in the defensive end spot where Walker had been playing and Gotsis went into the rotation after Crick exited the game after 15 snaps.
