5 Starting-Caliber Players the Broncos Will be Getting Back From Injury in 2020

The Denver Broncos suffered some serious personnel losses during the 2019 campaign. No NFL team is impervious to the vagaries of the injury bug.

The heartbreaker for the Broncos, however, was how the injuries almost wiped out the team’s entire offseason free-agent haul. Counting QB Joe Flacco, who was acquired via trade and missed the second half of the season, the Broncos had four big veteran pickups during the offseason and combined, three of those players missed 37 games.

Flacco’s injury had a silver lining. It gave rise (eventually) to the rookie Drew Lock, who would captivate Broncos Country and capture the support and belief of the locker room during his five-game stretch as the starter to end the season. Such is the nature of injuries in the NFL. It’s how many players get their opportunity. Flacco is not expected to be retained by the Broncos in 2020.

The upshot is that heading into this offseason, the Broncos are poised to get many of those injured players back. With three or four of these guys, it could be like Pro Bowlers suddenly flooding the roster. Their return could make a huge difference.

Here are the five injured players from last year, whom perhaps some fans forgot about, that could storm back in 2020 to be true difference-makers and provide a starting-caliber impact.

Bradley Chubb, LB (ACL Tear)

Chubb stormed onto the NFL scene as the No. 5 overall pick in the 2018 draft, finishing his rookie season with 12 sacks. With Vic Fangio arriving to coach the defense, the expectation was that Chubb was in line for a quantum leap in year two.

Alas, Chubb and the entire Broncos’ defense — including Von Miller — got off to a historically slow start, going the first three weeks without a sack or a takeaway. Finally, the dam broke in Week 4 vs. the Jacksonville Jaguars and Chubb was able to get home and notch a sack, but he suffered a torn ACL in the process. He would be placed on injured reserve and miss the remainder of the season.

Getting him back in 2020, needless to say, will be like getting another Miller. Sky’s the limit for Chubb, who no doubt will be motivated to make up for lost time. He’s on pace to be ready to go by the season-opener, provided he suffers no setbacks in his recovery.

Bryce Callahan, CB (Foot)

The Broncos were playing with fire when they signed Callahan to a three-year, $21 million contract last March. There was a reason the talented young corner lasted until the ‘second wave’ of free agency; he was coming off a foot injury that had ended his Pro Bowl-caliber season in Chicago.

The Broncos rolled the dice, and initially, Callahan assuaged everyone of the concerns, as he dominated during OTAs and the early stages of training camp. However, during an innocuous scrimmage at Mile High Stadium, he had his foot stepped on and from there, it was disastrous.

The Broncos resisted placing him on injured reserve to open the season, hoping he could turn the corner with his foot sometime within the first quarter of the schedule. But it was not to be. That foot lingered and eventually, the Broncos faced reality and pulled the plug on his season, placing him on IR and sending him to get that much-needed surgery his injury required.

Getting him back in 2020 will be huge. With Chris Harris, Jr. poised to hit unrestricted free agency, Callahan is the only proven corner the Broncos currently have under contract for 2020. His last year in Chicago, under Fangio, Callahan proved he can play at a Pro Bowl level and the Broncos will be hoping that’s the form he returns to when the cleats hit the grass this summer.

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Ja’Wuan James, OT (Knee)

This one was even worse for Denver, as the Broncos had just paid James a four-year, $51M contract, making him (at the time) the highest-paid right tackle in NFL history. Again, the Broncos were flirting with disaster, as James’ first five years in the league were replete with nagging injuries which led to a reputation for being ‘soft’ and for being an ‘injury milker’.

The Broncos’ desperate need to find a stable option at right tackle blinded them and James got his money. In the season-opener vs. Oakland, James went down literally after just 10 snaps. It was a ‘knee sprain’ that would nag at him all season long.

Similarly to Callahan, considering the investment the team had just made in James, they stubbornly refused to place him on IR and he didn’t see the field again until Week 8 at Indianapolis, where he lasted 22 snaps this time before aggravating the injury. It sidelined him again until Week 13, where he made his third and final start of the season, playing the entire first half at Houston, which amounted to 31 total snaps.

As the season was ending, James spoke publicly about his knee injury, contradicting what had been the team’s talking points all season long on the topic. The Broncos maintained a public show of support after the season ended, basically throwing their hands up and saying that they can only go with what the player is telling them with regard to an injury.

If you’re of a glass-half-full perspective, you look at 2020 fully believing James will be healthy (because he has a strange knack for being injured in odd years and healthy in even years). If you’re pessimistic, you don’t want to have to count on James to hold the fort down. The Broncos will likely bring in a viable tackle option to serve as the fail-safe in the event of James not earning his keep, whether it be via free agency or the draft.

De’Vante Bausby, CB (Neck)

Bausby was one of the success stories of training camp, as the former undrafted free agent hit the Broncos’ roster as the reigning interceptions leader of the now-defunct AAF. It didn’t take Bausby long to make an impression on his coaches and by the end of the preseason, he’d earned a place on the 53-man roster.

Isaac Yiadom really struggled in Fangio’s more zone-based coverage schemes, vaulting Bausby into the lineup by Week 4. Bausby played well but suffered a scary neck injury in a friendly-fire type of incident in which teammate Alexander Johnson ran head-first into him vs. the L.A. Chargers.

Bausby would be temporarily paralyzed (30 mins) before eventually getting back feeling and motor control of all his limbs. It was a severe neck injury, though, and it ended his season.

The good news is, Bausby is 100% healthy and heading into 2020, he’s a restricted free agent, which means he’ll be back with the Broncos. He proved initially to be a great fit for Fangio’s scheme and when he returns, the team could be getting a starting-caliber No. 2 corner.

Jake Butt, TE (Knee)

Without recounting the entire sordid history of Butt’s knee issues, suffice to say that in three seasons since arriving as a fifth-round draft pick, he’s appeared in exactly three games. He missed the entirety of both his rookie and 2019 season.

If the NFL is ever going to work out for Butt, it’ll have to be in 2020, as he’s entering a contract year. If he comes back healthy, yes, it’ll be a football miracle. But, if it happens, the Broncos will be getting a bonafide TE2 to complement Noah Fant.

As a Michigan Wolverine, Butt was projected to be an early day-two draft pick before he suffered a torn ACL in his school’s bowl game. That began this unlucky series of events, however, there’s no doubting he has NFL talent.

As we know, the best ability is avail-ability, so if Butt can finally put the dark days of constant recovery behind him, he almost immediately becomes the team’s second-best tight end and a player the new offensive coaches can count on to back up Fant. Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait to see it before we can believe it. I’m pulling for the kid, though.

Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadNJensen and @MileHighHuddle.

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