On Tuesday, Head Coach Josh McDaniels kicked off his press conference with a little “good news on the injury front.”
Correll Buckhalter, Champ Bailey, Demaryius Thomas, Chris Kuper, and D.J. Williams will return to the practice field this afternoon.
“Any guy that’s injured and steps back onto the field is a positive note,” said Buckhalter, who missed all but one day of training camp. “You want to be out here with your guys and you want to get better to get yourself to the season.”
Tomorrow, Ryan Clady and LenDale White are expected to get back to practice.
McDaniels said he wouldn’t speculate on whether any of the players will see time in Sunday’s preseason matchup with the Pittsburgh Steelers, he’s simply glad to see all the familiar faces back on the field.
“The rest of the guys are continuing to get treatment — we don’t want to put a timetable on that — but that’s our goal for today and tomorrow in terms of getting some people back out there,” McDaniels said. “It feels good to get a few more of those guys out there and actually start practicing together a little bit and get ready for the year.”
HAGGAN BACK INSIDE
McDaniels also discussed the team’s decision to release linebacker Akin Ayodele.
“We’ve gone through a lot of practices, obviously and a few games and we’re going to move Mario Haggan back inside and we’re going to play him at Mike (middle linebacker),” McDaniels said. “Because of that, the backup positions become more special-teams specific.”
Ayodele, a ninth-year linebacker, was released now so that he has a chance to catch on with another team.
“I just don’t believe in taking veteran players to the final cutdown once you’ve already made a decision as a staff that this is the direction that you’re going to go,” McDaniels said. “We respect everything that he did — we would play him here again if the situation arose and it was right for both of us — but at this point we felt like that would just be stringing a player along.”
-Gray Caldwell, DenverBroncos.com
Below are some photos from this afternoon’s workout:
Tags: Champ Bailey, Chris Kuper, Correll Buckhalter, D.J. Williams, Demaryius Thomas, LenDale White, Mario Haggan, Ryan Clady
Well that’s some much needed awesome news!!!!
yes!!! its about time. our offense should soon to be at full power. everyone look out because the broncos are coming…lol
Akin Adoyle released today….. Think we will bring some one else in? Although, I tought Akin played well for us, had six tackles against the Lions and started both pre season games for us.
For anyone interested in the Ayodele subject, it was discussed in depth in the previous blog.
Great news getting all those guys back. Looking forward to seeing Ryan Clady, boy do we need him and Mr. Kuper.
Also, is there any word on Moreno? Getting Buck and Lendale back is awesome though.
The obvious about Moreno is that he is not ready to return to practice, heard somewhere he might not be ready to go until regular season.
Glad to see McD gave a full explanation about the release of Ayodele, I guess he felt he couldn’t help as much as others in ST.
I am sooo excited to be getting bay bay, buck, Kuper, White, Clady, DJ, and Bailey back out!! We have to stay healthy this season and we should do good! I hope Thomas can hurry in and get some reps and play on Sunday! If he practices today and all the way up to Sunday then he should be good to play Sunday! Also I figured Tebow would already be back out on the field and practicing! I wonder when hes going to be ready to go…I really want to see him play on Sunday against the Steelers. I would love to see him throw to Bay Bay and Deck this Sunday!!
Looks like Tebowmania might have to wait another week, no Tebow in practice, no Tebow game day.
With Haggan in the middle soes that mean Jarvis will start?
Soo I just made a post on the previous blog about who gonna practice and who’s not and then all of a sudden its a blog about WHO’S GONNA PRACTICE AND WHO’S NOT…smh I thought I was on top of my game lol
Forget Tebow, we got Kyle Orton, and that man is looking sharp. Only q to have multiple Td’s in pre season so far, doesn’t mean much I guess, but with the O line coming along and getting healthy I am really looking forward to this week’s game against those bums they call the steelers. Be interesting to see what impact if any is casued by the move at LB with Mario. Parrish Cox will also be interesting to look at down the stretch here, regarding the PR position.
Glad to read the above mentioned players will be back at practice!
Baylin – What impact is Moss having on Special Teams? I watched the first 2 preseasons games (loved the juke move JM put down on the the OT from the Lions) and I dont recall him on ST. Am i missing something?
Finally some great news!!
I want so bad for Moss to do well. He looked dead in the water before. Now he has a skip in his step. Hopefully he can build off all he accomplished against the Lions this week.
theotheredge
When McDaniels says Haggan is ILB and Ayodele was released because the back up positions are going to be more special teams. He is referring to the MLBs and ILBs, Woodyard, Joe Mays, and Worrell Williams, who are all special teamers. Ayodele actually has a chance to start on a team and since we have starters (DJ and Haggan) in the middle, no need to string Ayodele along. Cut him as soon as possible and give him a chance to find and practice with another team.
Jarvis is more than Likely going to be starting if Haggan is in the middle now and Dumervil is hurt for the season. They were our 2 OLBs last year and with one injured and the other in ILB, JMoss is gonna be starting along with Ayers more than Likely. So he wasnt speaking of JMoss in a Special Teams capacity…
Hope that helps.
I just love to hear that Clady is going to be practicing…WOOOOO. And I wana see thomas play, but i hope Willis moves up the depth chart. Any one agree?
theotheredge, Ayodele is an inside LB, Moss an outside LB, the inside LB who can probably do more on ST than Ayodele is Mays, that was a big part of bringing him here, and he is probably the main reason for letting go of Ayodele.
TRB, appreciate the help, LOL.
florio, I think that Moss has gained an attitude since he is wearing this new weapon, he might never want to let go of that cast.
Hindsight is 20/20.
He must have not been pleasing MCD for a while. I mean look, we went out and signed Mays, and Williams.
Mays is a proven player, but I find it interesting how often Worrell is mentioned just because he is DJ’s brother, the guy has never even been picked by any team, not even on any practice squads, come on let’s get real, he looked totally lost out there when he came in at the end of last game and the only time his name was called was for a penalty deep down field while the play was developping up front, it was kind of sad…
Im saying we signed two ILB. Probably because he didn’t like what he saw in Ayodele
Ahh, gotcha. Thanks for explaining. I forgot Mays was added for his ST expertise.
So what McD is saying about letting go of Ayodele now to give him a shot at another team doesn’t hold much water if like you said he has felt that way for a long time, he could of let him go earlier. I think mainly the fact that Haggan is moving back inside is what made this happen, just my opinion.
Welcome buddy.
Funny, I just realized I trust what McD is saying about the Haggan/Ayodele deal, haha.
florio’s_mom: I’m with you on Moss. Thought he would be a player that would not make Coach McD’s Team last year. Then he almost hung up the cleats. Would love to see him contribute on Defense this year.
Hope he has a great year !
Yeah.
McD must of liked what he saw in Moss, that he was comfortable enough to move haggan back inside, leaving one ILB as the odd man out. Ayodele doesn’t contribute on ST like Mays does. So Buh Bye Akin.
now that clady and kuper are back maybe just maybe!! our running game will start showing some spark. The only thing is I’ll rather have them practice to get them ready for the regular reason. If atmost just play one drive in the steelers game just to get their feet wet. I hope this is the end of all this injuries!! May the football gods help us!!
60 MINUTES OF FOOTBALL GO BRONCOS!!!
Lets all hope we stay healthy from here on out,nice to see some of our boys back in action,we not only have to be lucky and good this year but it is imperative we stay healthy. So if we have all three of these aspects we should fair well this year. GO Broncos
glad those guys are back – most of them are key players and it’s good they’ll get some practice before the season starts. cant wait to see thomas play.
I think Moss is doing good right now and could end up with 6 or 7 sacks this season. nothing like Doom, but it’s a start. we get ayers doing something besides picking his butt we might get a decent pass rush. i like how gaffney and orton are playing too. perrish cox looks good
better beat the steel heads this week i know more steelers fans than broncos and if the broncos dont win, i might have to rip off my balls.
manny i like the football gods comment lol
As crazy as Blount is, I just saw the highlights of the titans from the last game, and that man can RUN. Big powerful, and makes NFL players look small and weak lol. He runs angry. Probably cuz he is angry lmao. Would like that talent and size, but not the “boxer” baggage it comes with. Choose a profession, Boxing or RB lmao
Akin is a veteran and most vets dont play speacial teams nor do they want to play them. So its best for everyone to allow him to go somewhere else and play if he isnt going to play special teams. Jarvis is looking good and im excited to see him get a chance to make up for the last 2 years. Hopefully the coaching staff is smart with these injured players and dont rush them back to soon just to get hurt again. Who cares about preseason anyway.
Rushing them back too soon just to get hurt again sounds inanely familiar.
Ryan Harris ring any bells?
i agree. same thing happened to thomas and decker. i severly doubt that Clady is healthy enough to be out there. i hope he doesnt re hurt that tendon
My thoughts on the rash of injuries goes something like this, With the exception of Clady , Thomas and Moreno, the rest of the people who’ve been sitting out periodically don’t really need 4 preseason games to shake the rust off. White is a basic non entity until week 5 and will be able to learn the offense by then. Champ is Champ…enough said. I just tend to believe that we are allowing the media to blow much of this out of proportion. Sure the rookies neeed the reps and experience, but I don’t feel the older vets need them as much. Soooo it seems to me that Mcdaniels is giving veteran players 2 preseason games to warm. Not sure if I am making any sense, but that is my opinion.
So awesome to hear that Clady is returning to practice………phew I was getting worried about him. Any news on Moreno? Does anybody know about how he’s coming along?
Looking forward to the game Sunday night vs. the Steelers…….should be a good test for us……..
Go Broncos!
It’s important to get the Oline playing together as they need the cohesion of a unit.GO BRONCOS!!
I also hope to see jarvis moss do well, the guy looked fast and had a pass rush going for once hopefully he can do that during the regular season and not get injured