Broncos Reveal Two Injured Starters, Key RB to 'Miss Some Time'
The Denver Broncos are paying a heavy price to lose games. As if dropping precious games isn't bad enough, the Broncos are losing key players to injury game after game.
We're not talking about bottom-of-the-roster special-teamer types, but key players. Most Broncos fans don't need a reminder of all the tier-one talent this team has lost to the injury bug since the season began.
It's been brutal and unprecedented. No doubt, it's affecting the product on the field.
Week 7 was no different, as a diminished Broncos squad fell to the New York Jets at home 16-9. Lost in the attrition of that battle, at least for a few weeks, were Broncos' rush linebacker Baron Browning, starting left tackle Cam Fleming, and No. 2 running back Mike Boone.
Head coach Nathaniel Hackett provided a prognosis on their injuries on Monday.
“All of them are going to miss some time," Hackett said. "Mike, he’s got an ankle [injury], so it’ll be a couple of weeks, I think. Same thing with Fleming and Baron, also.”
Ouch.
In one fell swoop, the injury bug took out three players the Broncos are currently relying on heavily. Both Browning and Fleming are backups playing in a starting role, after the guy ahead of them (Randy Gregory and Garett Bolles, respectively) landed on injured reserve.
That means the guys Denver turns to in relief of Browning and Fleming will be the third guys on their respective depth charts. By the time you erode the top of a depth chart that steeply, this early in the season, there's no way to avoid it affecting the product on the field.
So who steps in now for Browning, Fleming, and Boone? In Browning's case, rookie second-rounder Nik Bonitto is likely the next man up, and for Fleming, it's Calvin Anderson.
To replace Boone, the Broncos signed Marlon Mack off the San Francisco 49ers' practice squad on Monday. Mack is an experienced NFL vet who could help stop the bleeding at running back. Just don't expect midseason miracles from him.
The Broncos sit at 2-5, with a trip across the pond to London next up on the docket. The Jacksonville Jaguars await and are likely licking their chops at the prospect of facing a significantly diminished Broncos squad that is reeling like a punch-drunk pugilist right now.
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