The running backs room for the Denver Broncos got pretty crowded, pretty quickly, following free agency and the NFL draft, which means they needed to make room somewhere to hit their 90-man offseason roster.
That somewhere turned out to be letting go of former Dallas Cowboys running back and 2023 6th-round pick Deuce Vaughn — the shortest running back ever taken in the NFL draft.
“The Broncos have waived RB Deuce Vaughn per source,” 9News Denver’s Mike Klis wrote on his official X account on Tuesday.
Vaughn, 5-foot-6 and 173 pounds, wasn’t with the Broncos for very long after signing a futures/reserves contract on January 26.
“The Broncos are waiving RB Deuce Vaughn, source confirms,” The Denver Post’s Luca Evans wrote on X. “Spent last year on Denver’s practice squad. That would be the corresponding move to Broncos signing WR Mike Woods, I believe. So Denver is sitting at 90 countable offseason roster spots.”
Deuce Vaughn Ran Out of Chances With Cowboys
The writing was on the wall for Vaughn in Dallas after 2 seasons — and after the Cowboys used 2 draft picks in 2025 on running backs with Phil Mafah and Jaydon Blue.
The Dallas Morning News singled Vaughn out after minicamp as a player who didn’t seem to have a fit with the Cowboys in 2025 and was likely down to his last chance with the franchise.
“Vaughn is fighting to get on the field,” DMN’s Calvin Watkins wrote in June 2025. “Vaughn, if you remember, was the feel-good story of the 2023 draft when picked in the sixth round out of Kansas State. He’s played in 14 games since. His father is Chris Vaughn, the Cowboys’ assistant director of college scouting. You can debate whether the Cowboys did this as a favor to Chris, but Deuce hasn’t been given an easy road to earn roster spots. He’s also understanding of the critiques of that. In some ways you can compare it to Bronny James, LeBron James’ son whom the Lakers drafted in the second round last year.”
Vaughn was one of the nation’s best running backs at Kansas State from 2020 to 2022. In 3 seasons, Vaughn put up 4,854 yards of total offense and 43 total touchdowns, including 3,640 rushing yards.
Through his first 2 seasons in the NFL, Vaughn had just 40 carries for 110 yards and no touchdowns.
Broncos Have Stacked RB Room Following Draft
The Broncos have gone all-in on creating a dynamic backfield with 3 seemingly interchangeable in size and skill: veteran J.K. Dobbins, 2025 2nd-round pick RJ Harvey, and 2026 3rd-round pick Jonah Coleman.
Dobbins, 5-foot-10 and 212 pounds, was on pace for the first 1,000-yard rushing season of his career before he suffered a season-ending foot injury in Week 10. Dobbins played on a 1-year, $2.065 million contract in 2025 and signed a 2-year, $16 million contract with the Broncos on March 9.
Harvey, 5-foot-8 and 205 pounds, was 1 of the NFL’s more underrated rookies and scored a whopping 12 touchdowns despite only having 896 yards of total offense.
Coleman, 5-foot-8 and 220 pounds, racked up 2,342 yards of total offense and 27 touchdowns over the last 2 seasons at the University of Washington.
“Broncos’ new RB Jonah Coleman can do it all,” DNVR’s Zac Stevens wrote on his official X account after the draft. “Last two years at Washington, he racked up 1,811 rushing yards and 531 receiving yards with a whopping 27 total TDs … Broncos RB room: J.K. Dobbins, RJ Harvey, Jonah Coleman, Jaleel McLaughlin, and Tyler Badie.”
Broncos Waive 5-foot-6, 173-Pound Former 6th Round Pick