Broncos Reveal Final Injury Report for Week 9, Rule Out Four Players

The Denver Broncos paid prized free-agent offensive tackle Ja'Wuan James $51 million over four years this past spring and have since gotten a grand total of 32 snaps from him. James suffered a left knee sprain in the season-opener and reaggravated it last week in Indianapolis.

No surprise, he's been ruled out for Week 9's tilt with the Cleveland Browns. In James stead, once again, will be the valiant but beleaguered Elijah Wilkinson.

Also ruled out is cornerback Bryce Callahan, whom the Broncos signed to a three-year, $21M deal back in March. He's yet to play a single snap for Denver. When asked whether the Broncos will perhaps place Callahan on injured reserve after the bye, so as to get some use out of his roster spot for, say, Drew Lock, head coach Vic Fangio was coy.

“I can’t answer that," Fangio said on Friday.

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Outside of the usual suspects on the injury report, the Broncos will also be without S Will Parks (hand) and TE Jeff Heuerman (knee), with breakout DL DeMarcus Walker being listed as questionable with a shoulder injury. None of this mentions QB Joe Flacco (neck) and LB Corey Nelson (biceps), who were both placed on injured reserve on Friday, ending their respective seasons.

The Broncos filled the respective roster spots vacated by Flacco and Nelson with two undrafted rookies from the practice squad — QB Brett Rypien and LB Josh Watson.

“Josh brings a physical presence and he brings a football presence," special teams coordinator Tom McMahon said on Friday. "I really like Josh. He’s a young player, he loves football and gives it all every single rep.”

The Heuerman injury puts the onus on rookie TE Noah Fant. Flacco didn't seem to trust Fant, especially after the rookie's rash of drops, but perhaps new starting QB Brandon Allen will feed the young TE some targets on Sunday.

On the other side, the Browns have ruled three players out: TE Pharoah Brown (concussion), S Damarious Randall (hamstring) and S Eric Murray (knee). OT Kendall Lamm is listed as questionable for Week 9.

Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadNJensen and @MileHighHuddle.

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