Adam Gotsis is a former second-round draft choice who was a starter from 2017-2018. Gotsis’ draft status and starting resume didn’t stop Broncos coach Vic Fangio from placing the defensive end on Sunday’s inactives list.
Gotsis was a healthy scratch for the first time in his career against the Chargers. After a 20-13 win, Fangio was asked about his decision to bench Gotsis.
“Well, I wanted to get Mike Purcell up,” Fangio said. “The best thing Mike does is play the run, and we can only dress five. One of those guys had to go down as inactive. [Defensive line coach] Bill [Kollar] and I discussed it and we chose Adam this week. It has to be that way all the time.”
With Gotsis inactive, Shelby Harris played defensive end across from Derek Wolfe and Purcell got snaps at nose tackle. Fangio wanted to improve the team’s run defense and his decision worked out perfectly.
Denver’s defense held Los Angeles to just 35 rushing yards. Going into the game, the Chargers were averaging 103.5 rushing yards per contest this season.
Gotsis may not be inactive for every game going forward but it’s probably safe to assume Purcell will continue to get playing time.
