Broncos Rocked By Losing Leader in Sacks to Season-Ending IR

The injury bug continues to take massive bites out of the Denver Broncos. On Saturday, ESPN insider Adam Schefter reported that Broncos defensive lineman Dre'Mont Jones is headed to season-ending injured reserve with a hip injury.

"Broncos are placing starting DL Dre'Mont Jones on season-ending injured reserve due to a hip injury, making him the league-high 19th current player on IR for Denver, per sources. Broncos have had 25 players on IR this year. Jones is scheduled to be a free agent this off-season," Schefter tweeted.

Broncos are placing starting DL Dre'Mont Jones on season-ending injured reserve due to a hip injury, making him the league-high 19th current player on IR for Denver, per sources. Broncos have had 25 players on IR this year. Jones is scheduled to be a free agent this off-season.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) December 17, 2022

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The Broncos announced that taking Jones' place on the 53-man roster is outside linebacker Randy Gregory, who's missed the past nine games on IR with a knee injury. That should help mitigate the loss of Jones' impact as a pass rusher.

Jones saw some specialists this week for his hip injury suffered in Week 14's loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. Head coach Nathaniel Hackett sounded relatively optimistic earlier this week when discussing Jones' outlook, categorizing him as "day-by-day."

“He's seeing some hip specialists," Hackett said. "He's another guy that's day-by-day. We're just checking through everything and making sure we're doing what's right for him.”

As Schefter hints, this is a very unfortunate development for Jones, who's been playing in a contract year. Hitting the free-agent market as an injured player muddies the water, both for the individual and for prospective teams interested in their services.

It worked out for linebacker Josey Jewell, to a degree, after he went down early last season with a pectoral tear. The Broncos gave him a two-year deal worth $11 million this past offseason.

If Jewell had played out the 2021 season and had avoided injury, he could have commanded more than $5.5M/APY on the open market. The Broncos likely want to keep Jones in the fold, but this injury will make it a little more difficult to discern his value.

Jones was a Broncos 2019 third-round pick out of Ohio State. He started all 13 games for Denver this season, posting 47 tackles (24 solo) with a team-high 6.5 sacks, which also ties his career-high.

Jones marks the 19th Bronco to hit injured reserve. The Broncos have an NFL-high $58M in salary-cap dollars sitting on IR.

It won't be surprising if the sweeping coaching changes the Broncos are expected to make at season's end include some kind of shake-up with the strength and conditioning program. The Broncos host the 4-9 Arizona Cardinals on Sunday without Jones' services.

The Broncos also elevated QB Jarrett Guarantano and running back Devine Ozigbo to the active roster for Week 15's tilt vs. Arizona.

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