Two Broncos Rookies Injured in Sunday's Practice, One Will Miss Time

The attrition of training camp is rapidly claiming the Denver Broncos. The rookie draft class seems to be the hardest hit.

After losing second-round wideout KJ Hamler last week to a hamstring injury that will cost him the remainder of camp (in all likelihood), the Broncos received a much-need break on Saturday. The team returned to the fields of UC Health Training Center on Sunday for the ninth practice of training camp.

All was going well until third-round cornerback Michael Ojemudia exited with a quad injury and linebacker Justin Strnad pulled up lame too. After practice, head coach Vic Fangio provided an update on the two banged-up rookies.

“Ojemudia’s going to be out probably at least a week, maybe past that," Fangio said Sunday. "We’ll see. Strnad hurt his wrist during practice. I don’t have an update on that yet.”

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That missed time is likely the final nail in the coffin of Ojemudia's bid to win the Broncos' No. 3 corner spot and play with the starters to open the regular season. As we learned from our chat with Cecil Lammey earlier Sunday, that No. 3 corner role seems to be under the control of veteran De'Vante Bausby.

Meanwhile, we don't have a prognosis on Strnad. With Todd Davis poised to miss at least the next week of practice, but likely more, with a calf injury, the Broncos needed Strnad to step in and help bridge the gap.

But as defensive coordinator Ed Donatell opined following Sunday's practice, that's likely expecting too much from Strnad considering that he's still a rookie and very much acclimating to life in the league amid a vast trial-and-error learning curve and summer-long cramming session.

“Justin Strnad, he brings a little bit of a different guy," Donatell said. "He’s a little longer, a longer player that can matchup with the length tight ends that he might be in coverage with. He’s just learning. He’s trying to keep up. All these days are critical. He’s responding and advancing.”

Running back Melvin Gordon missed Sunday's practice (his second-straight) with a rib injury. Coach Fangio classified Gordon as a "day to day". Meanwhile, Von Miller returned to the practice field on Sunday after tweaking his elbow last week.

UPDATE: Strnad's wrist injury will require surgery. He's out for the year.

Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadNJensen and @MileHighHudde.

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