The Denver Broncos were already thin at the safety position heading into a Week 15 tilt with the Pittsburgh Steelers, with T.J. Ward (ankle), Darian Stewart (hamstring) and Omar Bolden (hamstring) sidelined. A bad situation was made worse this week when David Bruton (leg) was put on injured reserve.
Bruton, Denver’s special-teams captain and Walter Payton Man of the Year nominee, played a team-high 77 defensive snaps despite breaking his fibula in the first quarter of Sunday’s game against Pittsburgh.
The team’s first practice participation/injury report ahead of this week’s Monday Night Football matchup with Cincinnati didn’t offer much in terms of good news. Both Bolden and Stewart did not practice on Thursday and Ward was limited in his participation.
Before last week’s game at Pittsburgh, Bolden had participated in limited reps on both Wednesday and Thursday before sitting out Friday and ultimately missing the game. Ward and Stewart did not practice or play.
Still, head coach Gary Kubiak had good news to report about Stewart.
“I would expect Darian to be back in full at practice on Saturday,” he told reporters Thursday. “I think he’s feeling pretty good. We’re just being smart here. We have an extra day, so we’re going to try to use it. I’m hoping that he’s back at full speed on Saturday.”
Things were not so bright for Ward and Bolden.
“T.J. practiced today,” Kubiak said. “He was limited. We’ll see. I think he’s made progress. I think he’s had two good days. He did more today than yesterday. He gets a little break tomorrow, which will be good and then we’ll see where we are on Saturday.
“Omar has not practiced. I don’t know. He’s the one that I’m trying to get a [bead] on really. He’s dealing with a hamstring-type of deal. The fact that he hasn’t been on the practice field, nothing has changed.”
Kubiak and general manager John Elway added depth to the depleted safety corps earlier this week when they signed free agent Shaun Prater, who last played with Indianapolis and Minnesota, seeing action in one game with each team this year.
During his NFL career, which began in 2013, Prater has recorded six tackles (4 solo), four special-teams stops, one interception (30 yds.) and one pass defended.
Some good news from the Thursday injury report is that Denver appears to be getting healthy on the offensive line – only guard Evan Mathis was listed on the report, as a full participant. Another bit of good news is the sheer size of this week’s report, which is down to 14 players after reaching in excess of 20 players in weeks past.
Still, with the loss of Bruton, Denver badly needs Bolden, Stewart and Ward to return to health as quickly as possibel.
The full report is below.
