Fangio Confirms Broncos Designated RB Mike Boone to Return Off Injured Reserve

It feels like the Denver Broncos have been unfairly targeted by the injury bug once again. Similar to last year, the bite of the injury bug started during the preseason with multiple key players going down.

One of those guys is running back Mike Boone. Boone suffered a quad injury during the Broncos' joint practices with the Minnesota Vikings ahead of preseason Game 1 and was placed on injured reserve after 'making' the initial 53-man roster.

Handling Boone that way allowed the Broncos to exploit the NFL's new-fangled rules, allowing him to return to the team after three regular-season weeks spent on IR. With three games in the books, the Broncos have officially designated Boone to return to the active roster.

During his mid-week presser, head coach Vic Fangio confirmed that Boone will practice on Wednesday. The hope is that Boone's return can help shore up what has been a leaky return unit on special teams thus far.

"Hopefully, he can," Fangio said on Wednesday. "He's played special teams in his past. It's one of the reasons we were excited to sign him."

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Boone will begin practicing on Wednesday and it sounds like the Broncos expect him to be good to play on Sunday vs. the Baltimore Ravens. While it's possible he could eat into the Melvin Gordon's and Javonte Williams' rep-share at running back, Boone is more likely to make his impact in the third phase initially.

Fangio liked Boone as a free agent from the Minnesota Vikings this past spring but he's not sure what to expect from the veteran running back after being sidelined more than a month of real-time.

"Well, we haven't seen him in a while since that day in Minnesota so we'll see how he looks today," Fangio said.

The Broncos signed Boone to a two-year deal worth $3.85 million back in March. Like two ships passing in the night, Boone arrived in Denver as Phillip Lindsay departed to sign his one-year deal with the Houston Texans.

Among many differing traits, the one element Boone brings to the table that Lindsay did not is his special-teams acumen. Not as a returner, per se, but as a guy who can execute his third-phase assignments with discipline and chase down punts and kicks.

The Broncos just placed two more players on injured reserve this week, one of whom will not return this season (KJ Hamler). The team hopes to get back cornerback Michael Ojemudia sometime soon and starting wideout Jerry Jeudy at some point in mid-to-late October.

Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadNJensen.

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