The Broncos’ initial 53-man roster is set. But it will change in a hurry.

The Broncos had to get down from the 90-man offseason roster limit to the regular-season number by 2 p.m. Tuesday. But they will be active in looking for players to claim off waivers.

“I do think the hay is not in the barn,’’ said Broncos coach Sean Payton, whose team is fifth in the waiver-claiming order. “I think there are going to be a number of players that will be on this waiver wire that we have to look closely at and make comparisons.”

Also, general manager George Paton said the Broncos on Wednesday will put three players who made the active roster on short-term injured reserve. He didn’t name the players, but one will be cornerback K’Waun Williams, who will be out from 6-8 weeks after undergoing ankle surgery Monday. Paton said one won’t be wide receiver Jerry Jeudy, who is in jeopardy of missing the Sept. 10 regular-season opener against the Las Vegas Raiders after suffering a hamstring injury last Wednesday in a joint practice with the Rams.

A player put on injured reserve Tuesday would be out the entire season. A player placed on injured reserve Wednesday or later could return after missing four games.

With the three players heading for injured reserve, the Broncos are expected to re-sign defensive tackle Mike Purcell, tackle Quinn Bailey and cornerback Fabian Moreau, who were released Tuesday as vested veterans. Since they don’t have to go through waivers, they can’t be claimed by another team.

“You’ll see in the next probably 10 days there still probably will be a lot of shuffling with teams and ours probably will be one of those teams,’’ Payton said.

Payton, in his first year as Broncos coach, spent 15 seasons as New Orleans’ coach before taking last year off to serve as a Fox NFL analyst. And his first Broncos roster has some Saints flavor.

The Broncos on Tuesday traded to New Orleans a 2024 seventh-round conditional pick for kicker Wil Lutz, who played for Payton on the Saints from 2016-20, and released kicker Brett Maher. Other players who once spent time with Payton in New Orleans on the 53-man roster are tight ends Adam Trautman and Chris Manhertz and fullback Michael Burton.

In addition, the Broncos on Tuesday released wide receiver Lil’Jordan Humphrey, a vested veteran. But a source said he will sign Wednesday to Denver’s practice squad.

The Broncos waived wide receiver Marquez Callaway, who played for Payton in New Orleans. Callaway could be in the mix at some point re-sign with the Broncos, who only have four receivers on the 53-man roster.

One is the injured Jeudy. The others are starter Courtland Sutton, rookie Marvin Mims Jr. and Brandon Johnson. However, a source said Michael Bandy also will be added to the practice squad if he clears waivers after being let go Tuesday by Denver.

The deal for Lutz wasn’t the only trade the Broncos pulled off Tuesday. They sent tight end Albert Okwuegbunam and a seventh-round conditional pick in 2025 to Philadelphia for a sixth-round conditional selection in 2025. Before that trade was done just before the deadline for rosters being set, the Broncos had told Okwuegbunam he would be waived if a deal wasn’t done.

The Broncos elected to keep undrafted rookie tight end Nate Adkins over Okweuegbunam, who was showcased and caught nine passes for 109 yards in last Saturday’s 41-0 win over the Rams in the preseason finale. Four tight ends made the 53-man roster, the other being Greg Dulcich.

Adkins was one of four undrafted free agents to make it. The others were running back Jaleel McLaughlin, an easy choice after having a top-notch preseason, outside linebacker Thomas Incoom and tackle Alex Palczewski.

“I think it’s important for your team that the best players are getting to the roster regardless of how they got here,’’ said Payton, whose team Tuesday made moves on 34 players. “I don’t know any other way to do it. I think if you start trying to get around it and start looking at players differently based on how they were acquired, then right away you go down the wrong path.”

The Broncos will set much of their practice squad Wednesday after players clear waivers. Their hope is another player on it will be quarterback Ben DiNucci, who was waived Tuesday when the Broncos elected to keep just two quarterbacks on the 53-man roster in starter Russell Wilson and Jarrett Stidham.

There is a new NFL rule that allows teams to dress a third quarterback on the 53-man roster as an emergency quarterback for games, and he won’t count against the game-day active limit. However, Payton said the Broncos preferred to not put a third quarterback on the 53-man roster because the likelihood of two signal callers being knocked out in a game is a rare occurrence.

“We like the two (quarterbacks) that are on the roster and we think that we’re going to have a good practice-squad quarterback,’’ Payton said. “That’s the approach.”

While some had thought DiNucci and Okwuegbunam would make the 53-man roster, another mild surprise Tuesday was outside linebacker Aaron Patrick being waived. He had played the past two seasons with Denver, which included suffering a torn ACL after playing in five games in 2022.

Other holdovers let go were wide receiver and return specialist Montrell Washington, a fifth-round pick last year, running back Tyler Badie and cornerback Faion Hicks. Outside linebacker Chris Allen, who was on Denver’s injured reserve list last season, was waived with an injury designation.

Another veteran released was nose tackle Tyler Lancaster, who had played the past four years with Green Bay before signing with Denver. Also let go on the defensive line was Air Force graduate Jordan Jackson, and a source said the Broncos want him on the practice squad.

Others let go were running backs Tony Jones Jr. and Dwyane Washington, wide receivers Taylor Grimes and Josh Hammond, center Kyle Fuller, tight end Tommy Hudson, guards Henry Byrd and Will Sherman, outside linebacker Marcus Haynes, cornerback Art Green, linebackers Austin Ajiake and Seth Benson, safety Devon Key, tackle Demontrey Jacobs and defensive linemen P.J. Mustipher, Tomasi Laulile and Haggai Chisom Ndubuisi.

The Broncos, as expected, placed outside linebacker Baron Browning on the physically unable to perform list due to a knee injury. Paton said Browning is “making great progress” and is “ahead of schedule” but he must miss at least the first four games.

“I don’t love this time of year,’’ Paton said. “It’s hard, but it is what it is. We cut a lot of good players. We feel like we’ll get some of them back on the practice squad. We feel like a lot of these jobs will get jobs at other places, as well. We feel good about our 53.”

Paton hopes to feel even better about the 53 after it goes through some changes.