Here's the Broncos' injury and availability situation heading into training camp

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Training camp eve is much like Christmas Eve — full of hope, optimism, excitement and, most importantly, smiles.

On Friday — 2018 camp eve — most everything was looking up at the UCHealth Training Center, including the availability of John Elway and Vance Joseph’s roster.

Well, mostly everything.

Jordan Taylor — who received double hip surgery in the offseason — will be the lone player placed on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list, meaning he can’t practice until cleared by the medical staff.

The only two other players who won’t be available for the start of camp are wide receivers Carlos Henderson and Jimmy Williams as neither reported to camp and were placed on the Reserve/Did Not Report list.

“He’s having some family problems right now,” head coach Vance Joseph said, giving an update to why Henderson is not at the start of camp. “It’s strictly on Carlos on if he wants to continue playing football and come back to camp and compete. It’s personal with Carlos.”

Joseph did not state when, or whether, Henderson will join the team.

Outside of that, the news regarding the health, and availability, of the team was as optimistic as John Elway is on the team’s season.

After not practicing all offseason, Ron Leary, Jared Veldheer, Clinton McDonald and Troy Fumagalli — potentially three starters — are all expected to be back on the field, at least to an extent, at the start of camp.

On the offensive line, Leary and Veldheer are the unquestioned starters at left guard and right tackle, respectively, but will be eased back into full participants.

Joseph isn’t concerned about limiting each player early in camp since they each have a significant amount of football under their belts. Specifically for the two vets on the offensive line, Joseph wants to “be smart.”

“[Leary] had a minor procedure in May,” Joseph said, talking about an arthroscopic procedure the 29-year-old had on his knee. “He’s healthy. He’s in good shape. He’s running. He feels great.”

On the opposite line, Elway “thinks” defensive lineman McDonald will be healthy after undergoing a procedure this offseason to drain a bacteria infection he had been dealing with all offseason.

Fumagalli, the Broncos rookie fifth-round tight end, is expected to take the field for the first time as a member of the Broncos during training camp. However, his impact may not be as immediate.

“He missed the entire spring, so we’re going to take it slow with Troy and get him in football shape,” Joseph said. “Hopefully he can help at that position.”

Finally, Shane Ray will not start training camp on the PUP list after avoiding wrist surgery that was expected to happen this offseason.

“That was Shane’s decision with his doctors, that’s the direction he wanted to go,” Elway said, making it very clear whose decision it was for Ray to not have surgery. “Hopefully we can manage him and keep him in a position where he’ll be effective for us.”

There’s a saying that availability is a team’s best ability. Well, entering camp, the Broncos are nearly batting 1.000 in that respect.