The Broncos have lost pass rusher Shane Ray for six to eight weeks on account of a torn ligament in his left wrist, Nicki Jhabvala of the Denver Post was among those to report (on Twitter). Ray will undergo surgery Saturday.
The 24-year-old Ray is the second notable Broncos linebacker to land on the shelf, joining Shaquil Barrett, who has been dealing with a hip injury since the spring. Having to go without Ray will be a bigger blow to the Broncos’ defense than Barrett’s absence, though, as the former emerged as one of the team’s top rushing threats last season.
As a second-year pro, Ray broke out with 48 tackles and eight sacks across 16 games (eight starts) and 664 snaps. Only two Broncos linebackers – Von Miller and Todd Davis – saw more action than Ray, who ranked an above-average 45th in overall performance among Pro Football Focus’ 110 qualified edge defenders.
Now that they’re facing the prospect of going without both Ray and Barrett to begin the regular season, Broncos general manager John Elway and head coach Vance Joseph will consider adding outside help at linebacker, tweets Jhabvala. The best edge-rushing options remaining in free agency include Dwight Freeney, Mario Williams, Paul Kruger and Trent Cole, as PFR’s Dallas Robinson wrote last month. It’s possible the Broncos would have had interest in Erik Walden, who posted 11 sacks last year with the Colts, but they missed out on him when he signed with the Titans on Thursday.
Thanks to both the injuries to Ray and Barrett and the retirement of DeMarcus Ware, the Broncos are down to the untested Vontarrius Dora opposite Miller, as Roster Resource shows. Dora went undrafted out of Louisiana Tech last year and only played in one of Denver’s games.