This spring Kenard Lang was discussing his team's defensive end depth and how it might affect his chances to make the Denver Broncos roster.

The prospect didn't seem to concern him.

"You have to fight for the last biscuit on the table sometimes," he shot back.

The biscuits were running low a few weeks back.

Lang was buried on the depth chart and consistently getting third-team snaps. He looked like he was a possible goner by final cuts.

Anything still can happen in that regard. But with Ebenezer Ekuban's season-ending Achilles injury, and rookie Tim Crowder still hobbled with an ankle sprain, Lang may have as much a chance to start Week 1 as not being there at all.

"It's different," Lang admitted, adding he told himself to keep plugging and eventually good things would happen when he was getting limited snaps early.

"I guess it lets you know you've got to be prepared for whatever situation comes along because your number might be called. That's really how it is right now."

Lang had never experienced anything similar until last season. He was supposed to be a pass-rush specialist. He instead ended up a full-time starter, primarily on run downs, after Courtney Brown's knee troubles re-surfaced.

Denver coaches have been rotating players all week on both sides at end. So it's hard to get a bead on who'll get the call against his former team, the Cleveland Browns, in Saturday night's preseason game.

But Lang's experience puts him in the mix, along with Jarvis Moss, Elvis Dumervil and Crowder, when he returns, both for the short- and long-term. Kenny Peterson is suspended for the first four games of the regular season.

Denver also signed former Chiefs defensive end John Browning on Wednesday.

"You don't know what the coaches are thinking. So I'm trying to be prepared on both ends, rushing the passer and stopping the run," Lang said. "And whatever happens, happens. I don't let anything kill me."

Waiting game

There's probably no good time to get hurt.

But for Adam Meadows, waiting until the penultimate play of the last drill of official training camp while in Dallas on Aug. 16 before suffering a badly strained right calf amounted to cruel and unusual punishment.

"The timing of this is terrible," he said.

On the day Meadows was injured, he had been practicing for the first time with the first team, too.

But the nine-year veteran discounts that move up the depth chart as possibly coincidental. He had been switching sides at tackle regularly and on the day he was injured, Erik Pears was backing up Matt Lepsis at left tackle. So a spot opened up for him.

"So how much of that is what (the media's) saying and how much is the status quo of camp, I'm not really sure," he said.

Meadows added that in the long run he's not worried about losing his conditioning but instead is more concerned with being on the final 53-man roster.

Denver is particularly thin at that spot, so that likely increases Meadows' odds. Neither of the current backups – Chad Mustard and Cliff Washburn – has played a regular-season NFL snap at the position, and guard Chris Kuper can slide over but also is inexperienced as a tackle.

Big audition

An ill-timed hip injury suffered by Mike Bell right now has given Cecil Sapp the top backup job at tailback by default.

He can go a long ways toward actually earning the position with a big performance Saturday night.

"You never know what the coaching staff is thinking but if I do good, there's no telling," Sapp said.

Travis Henry (knee) will be held out as a precaution and Andre Hall (groin, hamstring) remains hobbled.

That means Sapp and undrafted rookie Selvin Young will get plenty of carries vs. Cleveland, with newcomer Cedric Cobbs possibly mopping up.

"I feel like it's good," Sapp said of receiving the extra work. "I'm really showing the coaches that I'm a capable running back when I go out and perform."

Sapp had been splitting carries with Bell as Henry's backup the first two preseason games. Bell got into the game first last Saturday vs. Dallas after Sapp had received the initial look in the preseason opener.

In those two games, Sapp has team-leading totals with 15 carries and 63 yards.

And while he's played some fullback, his primary position the last two years, he's mainly been used as a ball-carrier from mid-May mini-camps until the present.

"I've still got a little learning to do at the running back position with my cuts and reads but it's coming along slowly but surely," he said.

Numbers game

75 player roster limit after first cuts are submitted by 2 p.m. Tuesday. Linebacker Warrick Holdman (neck) was placed on the reserve/injured list Wednesday, leaving 89 players to evaluate.



ETC.

• Defensive end John Browning, 33, spent 11 years with the Kansas City Chiefs but was waived last September after hurting his back. He's started 96 games, including 12 in his final full season with the Chiefs in 2005. And surgery seemingly has cured Browning's back ills.

"I've watched John for a lot of years and always admired the way he played," Broncos coach Mike Shanahan said.

• Guard Ben Hamilton (concussion) was not in uniform one day after going through some positional drills in pads. But Shanahan said the player's progressing on the doctor's timetable, with an eye toward a return for the Aug. 30 game vs. Arizona.

• Safety Curome Cox (shoulder) returned to practice after missing three days of workouts.

• Wide receiver Brandon Stokley (thigh) continued to practice fully and could make his preseason debut Saturday.

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