GRIFFIN BRINGS PRIOR KNOWLEDGE TO BRONCOS BACKFIELD.(Sports)

Byline: Jeff Legwold, Rocky Mountain News

ENGLEWOOD -- Quentin Griffin is just more proof that what goes around, comes around.

And only 17 days after the Denver Broncos released Griffin because they didn't think they had room on their roster for him, they made a spot to bring him back. Griffin signed Tuesday and was back on the practice field Wednesday for the first time since his release.

Griffin was one of the team's final cuts Sept. 3 when rosters leaguewide had to be reduce to 53 players.

"I am glad to be back," Griffin said. "I didn't know (what was going to happen), but I am glad to be back."

With Mike Anderson suffering torn rib cartilage in the season opener and Tatum Bell spraining his left ankle Sunday against the San Diego Chargers, the Broncos were concerned about their depth and wanted a running back who could come in and contribute quickly.

Enter Griffin, who had workouts in Kansas City and Indianapolis earlier this month and was in Detroit on Tuesday for a workout with the Lions just before he signed with the Broncos.

"When you have your second, third or fourth back that knows the system, you can throw him in there every day," Broncos coach Mike Shanahan said. "That is why it's tough to pick a guy up during the season, because you actually want that guy to contribute to the team."

Griffin worked with the Broncos scout team Wednesday, playing the role of Priest Holmes against the Denver defense.

"He looked good, we told him he had fresh legs," Shanahan said. "I asked him how the Bahamas were, how his vacation was; but on the serious side, he looked good."

Griffin started four games last year for the Broncos, gaining 156 yards to start the season against the Kansas City Chiefs, and tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee in October.

He eventually underwent two surgeries on the knee, the second to clean up some scar tissue.

Griffin is behind Anderson, Ron Dayne and Bell on the depth chart. Anderson practiced Wednesday, but Bell was held out.

Shanahan said the team was keeping an eye on Bell's ankle but didn't know how much Bell would be able to practice this week leading up to the Broncos' game Monday night against the Chiefs.

"You never know with those ankles, we'll just have to wait and see," Shanahan said. "I don't think it's that serious where he would have to get (a magnetic resonance imaging test)."

ERNSTER BACK: Rookie kicker Paul Ernster, who was waived Tuesday to make room for Griffin on the 53-man roster, has been added to the Broncos practice squad.

Ernster cleared waivers Wednesday without another team claiming him. So he then was signed to the Broncos' eight-man practice squad.

"We had some interest and some other teams wanted him to join their practice squads, but Denver is where he wants to be," said Brett Tessler, Ernster's representative. "So that's what he did."

HARSH WORDS: Shanahan had a blistering response to an Internet report that he had considered firing defensive coordinator Larry Coyer after the team's loss in Miami because, according to the report, players were upset about the play-calling in the game.

"Hey, the only guy who should be fired is the guy who wrote that on the Internet," Shanahan said. "He has to be a complete idiot, I mean a complete idiot. There is absolutely no truth to that."

HURRICANE RELIEF: The Broncos and Denver Broncos Charities made a donation Wednesday to Hurricane Katrina relief funds. The Broncos forwarded $35,650 collected from fans before the Chargers-Broncos game to the American Red Cross, and $369,350 from the team and its charities fund will go to the NFL's Disaster Relief Fund.

BACK TO WORK: Tight end Nate Jackson (hamstring) returned to practice Wednesday for the first time since the Broncos' preseason finale in Arizona.