The Broncos are dealing with several injuries in their defensive backfield, so they elevated a couple of players to help round out the secondary ahead of Thursday night’s game against the Seahawks.
Taylor Rapp and Sean Fresch were both called up from the practice squad. They will revert back after Thursday night’s game is over.
Rapp will help at safety with Talanoa Hufanga sidelined by an ankle injury. Rapp will be making his Broncos debut, but has 488 tackles, 12 interceptions, two sacks, two forced fumbles, and four fumble recoveries in 93 games for the Bills and Rams.
Fresch returned three kickoffs and made two tackles on special teams last week. He also provides cornerback depth with Pat Surtain II (ankle) out and Riley Moss (ribs) listed as questionable.
Seahawks Clips
The late-afternoon slot on Sundays continues to generate the largest NFL audiences.
Via Nielsen, the Week 5 window that opened at 4:45 p.m. ET averaged 26.697 million viewers.
The headliner was 49ers-Seahawks, with Lions-Cardinals televised at that same time.
The Nielsen calculation began at 4:48 p.m. ET, after the conclusion of the Giants-Commanders game that spilled into the 4:25 p.m. ET window.
The situation resulted in plenty of complaints from Sunday Ticket customers who were not able to watch the game on their local Fox channel, and who could not access the game on Sunday Ticket because it was available in their market. Even if it wasn’t.
We asked the NFL earlier this week whether that glitch would be addressed. The league has not yet responded.
It was the only Week 5 window on Thursday or Sunday that exceeded 20 million. ESPN has not yet released the audience numbers for Bills-Rams. The latest Nielsen report runs through Sunday.
The Broncos may have cornerback Riley Moss in the lineup against the Seahawks on Thursday night, but they’ll be short a couple of defensive backs even if he does play.
Moss is listed as questionable due to injured ribs. Moss did not play in Week 5 and was listed as a limited practice participant all three days this week.
Cornerback Pat Surtain II (ankle) and safety Talanoa Hufanga (ankle) will not be in the lineup. Surtain was injured in Week 4 and has not participated in a practice since his injury. Hufanga was injured in last Sunday’s win over the Chargers and a report on Wednesday indicated he is expected to miss multiple weeks.
Safety Brandon Jones (foot), defensive lineman Sai’vion Jones (shoulder), and guard Ben Powers (biceps) were all full participants in Wednesday’s practice and none of them have injury designations for Thursday.
The Seahawks will remain without running back Zach Charbonnet for Thursday night’s game against the Broncos.
Charbonnet has been practicing with the team since being designated for return from the physically unable to perform list on October 1, but the team ruled him out on Wednesday. Charbonnet will need to be activated next week if he is going to return from his torn ACL this year.
The Seahawks have also ruled out linebackers Drake Thomas (ankle) and Chazz Surratt (calf). Both players were listed as out of practice all this week.
No other players on the active roster have injury designations, which leaves wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba (ankle) and defensive tackle Leonard Williams (ankle) on track to play.
In addition to the injuries, the Seahawks also announced a couple of roster moves. They signed running back Velus Jones to the active roster and released wide receiver Irv Charles a day after signing Charles and releasing Jones. Charles has rejoined the practice squad and could be elevated to play on Thursday.
The Broncos finished last Sunday’s win over the Chargers without safety Talanoa Hufanga and his ankle injury is set to keep him out beyond Week 6 as well.
Jeremy Fowler of ESPN reports that Hufanga is expected to miss two or three weeks as a result of the injury. He has been listed as a non-participant in practice on Monday and Tuesday, which puts him on track to be officially ruled out for Thursday night’s game against the Seahawks.
Hufanga has 23 tackles, two interceptions, an interception return for a touchdown, a sack, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery so far this season.
Brandon Jones, Devon Key, JL Skinner, and Tycen Anderson are the other safeties in Denver.
There are a lot of things that go into winning and losing football games, but a quick glance at the Seahawks’ performance in the first five weeks of the season leads to one obvious conclusion about their results.
In their three wins, the Seahawks have turned the ball over twice but they have turned it over seven times in their two losses. Four of those turnovers in the losses have been interceptions thrown by quarterback Sam Darnold — he has five overall — and cutting down on those giveaways is at the top of the to-do list in Seattle heading into Thursday’s game against the Broncos.
On Tuesday, offensive coordinator Brian Fleury said that he and Darnold are working to tailor their game plan so that it emphasizes plays that allow Darnold to feel comfortable and decisive on the field.
“It’s relying more heavily on plays that we have a lot of experience with both through training camp and through the first couple weeks that he’s comfortable making swift decisions and progressing through,” Fleury said, via the team’s website. “We’re going to lean more in that direction.”
The Seahawks have had chances to win both games they lost in spite of the turnovers and those chances would be a lot better if they didn’t give the ball away, so turning the focus to cutting them out is a prudent response with the race for playoff positioning in the NFC already well underway.
The 49ers won’t have linebacker Dre Greenlaw for Monday night’s game against the Commanders.
The NFL has announced that hearing officer James Thrash, a former NFL receiver, has upheld the one-game suspension imposed Monday on Greenlaw.
During the second quarter of Sunday’s game between the 49ers and Seahawks, Greenlaw applied a head butt to Seahawks linebacker Ernest Jones IV. Greenlaw was wearing a helmet; Jones was not.
Greenlaw was ejected. It was his third ejection since 2022. Last year, he was suspended for one game for his behavior toward referee Brad Allen after a game between the Giants and Broncos, Greenlaw’s team in 2025.
Greenlaw will forfeit $136,388 in base salary for the game. He’ll also lose a $23,529 active roster bonus. The 49ers could be able to seek partial repayment of his $2.5 million signing bonus, too.
The lost reps also will make it harder for Greenlaw to earn a $750,000 incentive based on 75-percent playing time for the season. If earned, the amount doubles if the 49ers make the playoffs.
The Broncos had another walkthrough Tuesday as they get ready for their Thursday night gamea against the Seahawks.
They had only one change to the report from Monday, estimating defensive end Sai’vion Jones (shoulder) as a full participant.
Cornerback Riley Moss (ribs) was again listed as limited participant. He did not play Sunday against the Chargers but appears on track for a return this week.
Safety Talanoa Hufanga (ankle) and cornerback Pat Surtain II (ankle) were both listed as non-participants a second consecutive day. Hufanga exited Sunday’s game, while Surtain did not play after his injury in Week 4.
Safety Brandon Jones (foot) and guard Ben Powers (biceps) were estimated as full participants.
The Seahawks released another estimated practice report on Tuesday and it didn’t feature a change in status for wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba or defensive tackle Leonard Williams.
Both players were listed as limited participants due to ankle injuries for the second straight day. The Seahawks will release injury designations for Thursday’s game against the Broncos on Wednesday.
The only change from Monday’s report was guard Beau Stephens (shoulder) moving from limited to full practice participation.
Linebackers Chazz Surratt (calf) and Drake Thomas (ankle) were listed as out of practice. Running back Zach Charbonnet (knee) and quarterback Drew Lock (right forearm) remained in the limited category while wide receiver Irv Charles (knee) and running back George Holani (ribs, knee) were listed as full participants.
The Seahawks will have wide receiver Irv Charles available for Thursday night’s game against the Broncos.
Charles was activated from injured reserve on Tuesday afternoon. Running back Velus Jones was released in a corresponding move.
Charles went on injured reserve in order to continue working his way back from last season’s torn ACL. Charles was playing for the Jets when he was injured and he was traded to the Seahawks for a conditional 2028 draft pick this offseason.
Charles mostly played special teams for the Jets and had 14 tackles in 25 games for the AFC East club.
Jones had two tackles and two kickoff returns in four appearances this season.
