Broncos surprisingly cut starting LB Todd Davis

The Denver Broncos surprised many when, per Jeff Legwold of ESPN, they cut linebacker Todd Davis as part of the team's final roster reductions. 

Davis, 28, was first claimed by Denver in the fall of 2014, and he ultimately became a lineup mainstay with the club the following year and was part of the squad that defeated the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl 50. He appeared in 76 regular-season contests for Denver from 2015 through the 2019 campaign. 

Davis led the Broncos in total tackles last year with 134. 

Also on Friday, Denver announced the club traded defensive lineman Christian Covington to the Cincinnati Bengals for linebacker Austin Calitro. Last weekend, the Broncos added linebacker Mark Barron to the roster. 

Davis was recently sidelined by a calf injury, but his health likely wasn't the main reason the Broncos are going in a different direction ahead of the holiday weekend. As Jon Heath of Broncos Wire/USA Today pointed out, Denver created $4.5 million in salary-cap space by moving on from Davis on Friday.