Davontae Harris The Next Man Up For Broncos In Wake Of Bausby Injury

The darkest spot of the Denver Broncos 20-13 victory against the Los Angeles Chargers came on the 12th play of the game when De'Vante Bausby took a wicked shot to the head and neck area from teammate Alexander Johnson while trying to make a tackle on RB Austin Ekeler. Bausby was strapped to a backboard and carted off the field, heading almost immediately to a local area hospital.

Updates on Bausby's condition have been extremely positive over the past 24 hours. He was diagnosed with a neck sprain and had movement in all of his extremities, eventually being released from the hospital and allowed to join his teammates on the flight back to Denver.

When asked about Bausby's condition on Monday, head coach Vic Fangio offered more positive news.

"I don’t think it’s anything that requires drastic treatment." Fangio said. "I think he just needs time.”

However, Fangio did not reveal a timetable for a potential return to action for the rising defender. This is a very scary and tricky situation to navigate, and rushing Bausby back to action is not even an option at this point. Despite his outstanding play, his personal health has to be of utmost importance.

"[I have] no timetable on his return yet, but he’ll definitely miss some time," Fangio said on Monday. "I don’t know if it’ll be the entire rest of the season or not, [with] these things the first few days and week will kind of tell the story.”

Thankfully, Bausby has avoided a career and life-threatening injury. We at Mile High Huddle hope for a speedy recovery.

But there's still football to be played, and now the Broncos have an issue with their cornerback depth. Both Isaac Yiadom and Davontae Harris got picked on relentlessly by Chargers' QB Philip Rivers and WR Mike Williams after Bausby went down, and Duke Dawson has had his own set of ups and downs this season as well playing at both the safety and cornerback position.

Williams was targeted 13 times on Sunday, and even though he only caught six balls for 74 yards, he drew a couple of defensive holding penalties when facing Yiadom in coverage, and exploited the Broncos cornerback depth several times.

Yiadom has allowed 11 catches on 12 targets for 146 yards this season, not being able to show the growth that the Broncos organization had expected of the former third-round pick. Despite seeing a rise in action against the Chargers, Yiadom only saw 14 defensive snaps through Weeks 3 and 4, speaking to Bausby's growth and Yiadoms's struggles. There's a reason Yiadom hasn't seen the field much of late.

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Harris did show some promise in his first action of the season while playing in the second half against the Chargers, but he also was picked on at times.

Will the Broncos look at the free agency pool for help at the cornerback position in the wake of Bausby's injury?

"Possibly," Fangio said. " We’ll look, but we’ve got Davontae [Harris] who played yesterday and we still have Ike (Yiadom), so we’ll see. I’m sure we’ll look, but not a lot available right now.”

The free-agent market does not look good right now, as a bunch of aging veterans and players that don't fit Fangio's scheme are what's available. There's not an answer there at this time. Still, the fact that this question has to be responded to without a firm and candid response shows the state of the situation in the Broncos cornerback room.

The Broncos are going to be searching for answers in the secondary moving forward, and unless Yiadom or Harris can overcome the struggles they had against the Chargers, Denver's secondary looks to be in a world of hurt. With Fangio's earnest effort at keeping Kareem Jackson playing at the safety position rather than sliding him back to corner, there's not a lot of hope for the Broncos defense on the outside.

Something has to be done. Whether it's taking a chance by promoting Alijah Holder off of the practice squad, bringing in a veteran free agent like Captain Munnerlyn or Coty Sensabaugh, or going against Fangio's wishes by moving one of Justin Simmons or Kareem Jackson down from the safety position — a move that also gets a struggling Will Parks on the field more often — a change has to be made.

Because the current answers won't cut it long term. The Broncos are also desperately awaiting the return of Bryce Callahan from his foot injury, but that may be several more weeks away.

Bausby's injury, as unfortunate as it may be, could spell doom for the Broncos secondary, and there aren't many answers available. Maybe one of Dawson, Harris, or Yiadom can step up, but with the showing they've had — particularly Yiadom — that doesn't seem like a certainty.

Follow Lance on Twitter @SandersonMHH and @MileHighHuddle.