Broncos place center Mike Deiter on injured reserve, add Lecitus Smith

The Denver Broncos made a pair of roster moves on Thursday, placing center Mike Deiter on injured reserve and signing Lecitus Smith to replace him on the active roster. The transactions continue a difficult stretch for the team’s front as it prepares for the grind of the regular season.

According to Mike Klis of 9News, Deiter’s injury is season-ending after he suffered a quad injury earlier in the week. The center, an interior anchor by role, was moved to injured reserve, a step that indicates the Broncos will not have his services available for the remainder of the season.

Deiter’s absence arrives alongside another recent loss along the defensive front. Klis also reported that defensive lineman Matt Henningsen is on injured reserve after an Achilles injury, meaning Denver has been forced to plan around multiple injuries across different phases of the roster.

With the Broncos adding Lecitus Smith, the immediate practical goal is depth and continuity. In the NFL, a late-season-ending injury to a starting-caliber center can force shifts in protections, snap execution, and communication at the line, all areas that tend to require time even for veteran units. By signing Smith, Denver is attempting to keep the interior line staffed enough for practice and for the weekly preparation that follows.

The timing matters because training camp and preseason work are where offensive line cohesion gets built, not just individual technique. When a player exits for the season, the team must also think about how to evaluate replacements quickly enough to reduce risk in game situations, particularly for a position as central as center, where timing with the quarterback and the cadence of run-pass adjustments are core responsibilities.

For Broncos fans, the next meaningful question is how Denver allocates reps at center and who becomes the primary option on first-team work. Deiter’s placement on injured reserve removes him from the equation for 2026, so Smith’s role and the surrounding group of linemen will shape the team’s options as the regular season approaches.

More broadly, these moves highlight the thin margins that can define an NFL roster. Injured reserve does not simply replace a player. It changes the unit’s practice plan, the depth chart, and often the week-by-week matchup considerations that coaches build into their game plans. Denver’s challenge now is to stabilize the interior while continuing to account for the broader availability concerns stemming from Henningsen’s injury as well.