The Denver Broncos now have a new linebacker on their practice squad as of Tuesday afternoon and it’s Avery Williamson, who spent most of the 2020 season with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Williamson is being signed to provide depth for the Broncos with linebacker Josey Jewell out for the season and fellow linebacker Jonas Griffith on injured reserve. Another Broncos linebacker, Baron Browning, was also inactive for the team’s Week 4 Sunday game against the Baltimore Ravens after he did not practice last Friday due to a back injury.
After the Steelers lost starting inside linebacker Devin Bush for the year to a knee injury in Week 6 of the 2020 season, they proceeded to acquire Williamson from the New York Jets via a trade right before the deadline for depth purposes. The veteran Williamson went on to see action in eight regular season games as well as the team’s lone playoff game. He started four times due to injury/COVID related issues the team had at the inside linebacker position.
In total, Williamson logged 309 regular season defensive snaps with the Steelers in 2020 and 51 more on special teams. In those eight games he registered 52 total tackles, three tackles for loss, a sack, and two quarterback hits. In the Steelers playoff loss to the Browns, Williamson logged 13 total defensive snaps and one special teams snap. He failed to register any stats in that postseason contest, however.
The Steelers obviously chose to not re-sign Williamson this past offseason as he was an unrestricted free agent.
The Broncos will play the Steelers on Sunday at Heinz Field and it will be interesting to see if Williamson makes to Denver’s Active/Inactive roster on Saturday so that he can participate in that contest.
