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Broncos Place Jurrell Casey, Austin Calitro on Injured Reserve

The Broncos placed two more players on injured reserve on Monday.
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At this point, it's hard not to feel for the Denver Broncos a little bit. Vic Fangio's plight in Year 2 as head coach is one that fans aren't likely to ever forget. 

The Broncos have seen star player after star player go down with injury, and not just banged-up, missing a game here or there — were talking about a combined 22 Pro Bowls hitting injured reserve. The latest blow came in the form of defensive lineman Jurrell Casey suffering a biceps tear that has ended his season. 

On Monday, per the NFL transaction wire, the Broncos placed Casey, as well as depth linebacker Austin Calitro, on injured reserve. Calitro suffered a hamstring injury in Week 3's loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and it sounds like the Broncos believe it'll be at least a three-week injury, or else the team wouldn't have placed him on IR. 

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The new NFL IR rules allow players to return to the active roster after three weeks. That won't help players like Casey, or Von Miller, or Courtland Sutton — all of whom have long-term injuries. 

But the new three-week IR rule could help with A.J. Bouye, Dre'Mont Jones, DeMarcus Walker, Mark Barron, and even Calitro. The Broncos will get all five of these players back at some point this season, and in the case of Bouye, it could be as soon as Week 5. 

The Broncos are going to need their No. 1 cornerback to even stand a chance of beating the New England Patriots at Foxboro in Week 5 and by that time Bouye will have served his time on IR, provided his shoulder is healed up. First, though, the Broncos have to figure out how to beat the hapless New York Jets this week at MetLife Stadium. 

Both the Broncos and Jets are 0-3 but Denver's lack of success can be directly attributed to the epidemic of injuries — to all their best players — as opposed to the Jets simply being a bad team. The Broncos looked like a bad team in Week 3's loss but eventually, all those Pro Bowl losses, plus the absence of starting QB Drew Lock, was going to come out in the wash. 

Casey was acquired via trade from Tennessee this past spring and was in his 10th NFL season. Calitro acquired Calitro via trade from Cincinnati on the doorstep of the season-opener in exchange for defensive lineman Christian Covington. That's a move that, in hindsight, GM John Elway probably wants back. 

Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadNJensen and @MileHighHuddle.