Denver Broncos Shake Up Roster Before Chiefs Game

The Denver Broncos are filling two familiar roles for tonight’s Monday Night Football opener in Kansas City, elevating fullback Adam Prentice and long snapper Mitchell Fraboni from the practice squad to the active roster.

Denver Gazette reporter Chris Tomasson said the moves were expected, with the league paperwork due by 2 p.m. MDT before the Week 1 trip to Arrowhead Stadium.

Prentice’s path back to game day is typical of a veteran fullback who has never quite left Sean Payton’s orbit.

The 29-year-old, listed at 6-foot and 245 pounds, first signed with Denver as an undrafted free agent out of South Carolina, spent several seasons bouncing on and off the New Orleans roster after the Saints claimed him, then returned to the Broncos last year.

He appeared in all 17 regular-season games in 2025, starting three, and chipped in 10 carries for 44 yards plus six receptions for 53 yards. He also posted 11 special-teams tackles.

After another one-year deal this offseason, he was waived at the end of camp and parked on the practice squad, ready for the standard three-game elevation window that teams use for specialists and complementary pieces.

Fraboni’s elevation is even more routine.

The former Arizona State snapper, who turns 30 in October, has been Denver’s primary long snapper since late 2022 and has played in 55 career games, including every contest over the past three regular seasons.

The Broncos released him at the roster cutdown and signed him back to the practice squad the next day, a common cap-and-roster maneuver for a vested veteran at a one-player position.

Special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi has long treated the job as one that needs a reliable starter and a trained backup; Fraboni remains the former.

Together the two moves say less about a surprise and more about how Payton’s staff opens a season. A fullback still matters in short-yardage and protection packages against a Chiefs defense that will see plenty of two-back looks.

A trusted snapper matters on every punt and field-goal attempt in a prime-time road game. Practice-squad elevations let Denver keep both on the 53-man count only when they are needed, then send them back without waivers after the game.

Kickoff is set for 8:15 p.m. ET on ABC and ESPN, with the ManningCast on ESPN2.

If the Broncos want extra bodies in the backfield and a clean operation on special teams, Prentice and Fraboni will be available from the first snap.