Report: Broncos WR KJ Hamler Out Week 10 with Hamstring Injury
Denver Broncos slot wide receiver KJ Hamler is expected to miss Sunday's road contest at Tennessee due to a hamstring injury, Troy Renck of Denver7 reported.
Hamler was listed as a limited practice participant Wednesday — when he sustained the injury that is now being "evaluated," per head coach Nathaniel Hackett — and did not practice Thursday, making the third-year speedster extremely unlikely to play in Week 10.
Hamstring issues are no stranger to Hamler, whose rookie season was marred by a soft-tissue ailment that dated back to his time at Penn State. He returned fully healthy for the 2021 campaign but again was struck by the injury bug, suffering a torn ACL and hip dislocation roughly 14 months ago — both of which compounded by personal tragedy and inner struggle.
“It’s been a tough journey, to be honest," Hamler admitted in August. "There was such much stuff I was dealing with and being piled up on top of each other. At one point, just dealing with the ACL and then some more things [with] family situations. The love of my life passed, my grandmother, so that was the toughest thing. That was on my back for a while. I wish I never did it by myself. I wish I would have asked for help, because it was at one point in my life—and I’m going to just be honest with you all because I’m more vulnerable and more confident in myself by just saying it. At one point, I didn’t want to be here. I didn’t want to be in this world. There was one point where I didn’t want to be heard from anymore because I lost my granny and that really hurt me. God gave me the strength to just get out of that hole because he knew I was strong enough to get through [it]. I didn’t feel like I was at the time. Just getting out of that hole was very hard, very tough. Just having all of these things going on and piling on top of each other, it was a hard process. Just to see where I am at from where I started and where I’m at now, [it’s] been a big change. I’m proud of myself and I know my grandmother is proud.”
After a brief summer stint on the Physically Unable to Perform list, Hamler has made seven of eight possible 2022 appearances, tallying seven catches for 165 scoreless yards — 23.6 yards per reception. His big-play ability, an ideal complement to starting WRs Courtland Sutton and Jerry Jeudy, led the 3-5 Broncos to rebuff outside interest ahead of the Nov. 1 trade deadline.
"We're trending in the right direction with Jerry, Hamler and Courtland," explained general manager George Paton. "We didn't want to break that up. We have a good thing going. We're in it to win it moving forward and so we kept all of our receivers.”
If Hamler is indeed sidelined, more receiving snaps should be afforded to Kendall Hinton, Montrell Washington, and perhaps Jalen Virgil, facing a Titans secondary that ranks 30th in pass defense, surrendering 275.6 air yards a game.
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