Broncos decision at left guard may be no decision at all

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Training camp and preseason football are all about the position battles. Guys take hundreds of reps at their position, all in attempt to separate themselves from the pack of men competing for their jobs.

Right around this time of year, those battles usually reach their finish line, with the winner crowned and rewarded with a first spot on the depth chart.

For the Denver Broncos, their last big battle comes down to the left guard position. In the left corner, third-year man Max Garcia; In the right corner, 10-year man Allen Barbre.

Ding. Ding. Ding.

And the winner is: well, maybe neither… or both?

“It’s tough, they both played very well and after our meeting on Sunday morning,” head coach Vance Joseph explained Monday afternoon. “We said, ‘Hey, we can play both guys.’ So we aren’t concerned about who is going to be the starter at this point, they both played very well. We need them both.”

So will that decision be made during the season?

“We may not make a decision,” Joseph said. “We may just play both guys because they are both playing so well. That’s a good thing for us, to have two guys who played at a high level this past weekend. We may name them both starters, how ’bout that?”

Hey, draws aren’t sexy but sometimes they happen, go ahead and raise both guy’s hands.

Injury Updates

It seems like the injuries just keep piling up for the Broncos, but the good news is that—outside of Billy Winn’s season ending ACL tear—Denver has been fortunate enough to avoid season-ending ones thus far. On Monday, head coach Vance Joseph updated a plethora of injury situations:

Derek Wolfe and Jared Crick

“They’re doing better, ‘Wolfey’ made a lot of progress last week. The week before he was kind of so-so, but he made a lot of progress. He’s out of the boot; he’s walking in normal shoes. Crick is up and walking also, so he’s doing better every day. Those guys should be back for Week 1.”

Paxton Lynch

“Paxton Lynch, he has a sprained right shoulder, it’s probably going to be a couple games for him… A couple of the real football games.”

The Broncos will examine all their options before making a decision on what to do about their backup job.

Will Parks

“Will Parks had a hip pointer in the game, he’s fine, he went today.”

Zach Kerr

“Zach Kerr has a bruised knee; he’s going to be out probably a couple weeks… It’s a short-term issue, Zach should be a couple weeks, so that won’t change anything for us… Two weeks from today is pushing it, so I’m not sure.”

Jamaal Charles

“Jamaal came out of the game fine. He felt great the next morning. So did Matt Paradis, by the way. It was fun to see him play, take some contact, catch the ball, pass protect and just play football for the first time in a long time. He came out of it fine.”

Kyle Peko

Peko returned to practice on Monday after being activated from the PUP list.

T.J. Ward

Ward was also back at practice Monday as he recovers from a hamstring injury.