ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — For the first time in what’s felt like a long time, the Broncos were handed encouraging news on the injury front Tuesday.
First and foremost is the health of Russell Wilson, who received a platelet-rich plasma injection on Friday in Los Angeles to try and help the recovery of his partially torn lat near his throwing shoulder. Wilson sustained the injury in the first half of Week 4’s game against the Raiders and played through the injury against the Colts in Week 5.
Although Dak Prescott took weeks off when he suffered the same injury in 2021, Wilson played through it. That’s the expectation moving forward as well.
“He should be ready to play,” Nathaniel Hackett said on Tuesday, indicating Wilson will start against the Chargers on Monday Night football.
It’s not a surprise Wilson will play through the injury as he’s only missed three games in his entire 11-year NFL career. That’s why Dalton Risner called him a “warrior.”
“Russell’s a competitor. He knows we’re not where we want to be. I know that he wants to do everything in his power to get this offense, this team to where we want to be,” Hackett added. “We’re 2-3, we are who we are, and we need to get better and he knows that. He’s going to do everything in his power to get us there.”
During Tuesday’s extra practice of the week, since the Broncos don’t play until Monday night, Wilson appeared to be practicing without any limitations, throwing as much as Brett Rypien and Josh Johnson.
Denver’s mini bye week was “huge” for the entire team to get healthy, according to Hackett, when specifically asked how it benefited Wilson. However, Hackett wouldn’t commit to if or when Wilson’s shoulder will be fully healthy.
“I’ve learned in this game, everybody has something going on,” Hackett said. “It’s a very, very physical game as we see week in and week out with everybody. Russell is a very tough human being. He’s not going to miss anything. He wants to be out there competing for this team. So we’ll just make sure we take care of him, do the right things to get him as close to 100 percent as we can.”
The positive injury news didn’t stop with the starting quarterback. In fact, three of Denver’s 12 players on the injured reserve are making their way back onto the field.
On Tuesday, Justin Simmons, Michael Ojemudia and Greg Dulcich all practiced for the first time since being played on IR. All three now have 21 days to either be brought off the injured reserve or placed back on it for the remainder of the season. However, the expectation is the three of them will be activated to the 53-man roster as soon as this week.
“They’ve kind of gone through that four week time period with the IR rules and we’re looking for them to get out there and practice,” Hackett added.
Simmons was placed on IR after suffering a quad injury in Week 1. This is the first week he is eligible to play. Dulcich and Ojemudia, on the other hand, haven’t played this year and were eligible to play last week, but the team decided to wait a week due to the Thursday night game.
“From his college tape, he was a very electric player,” Hackett said, when asked what Dulcich brings to Denver’s offense. “He was able to separate down the field, stretch the field. He did some really good things for us in OTAs and a little bit of training camp. He’s just kind of another weapon for us and we’re excited to get him out there. He hasn’t played a lot of football lately, so it’s going to be a slow process and we want to make sure we work him in the right way.”
Unfortunately for the Broncos, it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows. During the portion of practice open to the media on Tuesday, Mike Boone, Damarri Mathis, Eric Saubert, Mike Purcell and Josey Jewell were on the side field not participating.
All five players are expected to fill significant roles moving forward. The next time Hackett speaks to the media, and thus providing an injury update on those players, will be Thursday.
