Broncos get four injured players back at practice ahead of Week 3

The Broncos might be 0-2 but they're getting closer to full strength.

The Denver Broncos have been the veritable walking wounded since training camp opened on July 18. The team had to open the regular season sans three starters — FB Andy Janovich LB Todd Davis and CB Bryce Callahan, only to see prized right tackle Ja'Wuan James go down with a knee injury 10 snaps into the Week 1. 

James is going to be out for a few weeks yet but as the Broncos prepare to travel to take on the 2-0 Green Bay Packers, the team finally got a respite from the vagaries of the injury bug. Davis (calf), for the first time since day one of camp, was a full participant in practice, while Janovich (pec), LB Joe Jones (triceps) and Callahan (foot) took part as limited participants. 

Callahan's availability for Week 3 is still very much up in the air, but Davis' is finally trending toward playing. I would expect at least one additional week before Janovich and Jones return to the field of play and the same might hold true for Callahan. 

The Broncos will, of course, keep a close eye on the number of reps these recovering players get in practice but these developments are all highly encouraging for a squad trying to bounce back from its 0-2 start. 

“I think you’ll still have to manage them a little bit although in Todd’s case in particular last week he did get a good week of practice and hopefully will get a good week this week too," head coach Vic Fangio said on Wednesday. 

How it helps

Getting Davis back will be paramount to Denver staunching the bleeding against the run. Denver has allowed 125.5 rushing yards per game thus far without Davis but as one of the league's premier run-defending linebackers, his presence should mitigate that production. 

The Broncos really need Callahan back out on the grass. He's played in Fangio's system every year since entering the league as a college free agent with the Chicago Bears in 2015 and would be a welcome translator of sorts on the field when it comes to understanding and executing the zone coverages that predominate the Broncos' new scheme. 

Look no further than the Bears' final offensive play from scrimmage in which QB Mitchell Trubisky completed a 25-yard pass to a wide-open WR Allen Robinson on a 4th-&-15 that put them in field goal range with one second left. There's no guarantee Callahan's presence in the secondary would have stopped that from happening but it certainly couldn't have hurt. Even Coach Fangio admitted that there was a coverage breakdown on that play. 

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Getting Andy Janovich and Joe Jones back will be a huge boost, too, believe it or not. The Broncos' rushing attack just doesn't work the same without Janovich out there lead-blocking and taking on linebackers, while Jones will give Denver some real options at inside linebacker. 

The team has been forced to get by with late-addition Corey Nelson at linebacker while Davis has been healing and the results have been cringe-worthy at times. Nelson is a solid coverage linebacker but he's been a liability for the Broncos against the run. 

Jones can do both and really impressed in coverage during OTAs and the early stages of camp. Fangio's scheme is very linebacker-dependent when it comes to coverage.

Due to the summer injuries the Broncos sustained, we haven't gotten to see the team's true vision for both the offense and defense take shape. 'Such is football', you might say, but getting these players back could have a palpable effect on both sides of the ball. 

Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadNJensen and @MileHighHuddle.