News keeps getting worse for the Broncos. The 0-4 team received word one of its top players, linebacker Bradley Chubb, will miss the rest of the season. Chubb suffered a torn ACL Sunday, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets.
Chubb left the Broncos’ Week 4 game against the Jaguars but returned. The emerging talent does not appear to have played on a full tear, with 9News’ Mike Klis tweeting this is a partial tear. But that’s hardly any consolation. With Chubb set for surgery, per Schefter, Denver will have to play the rest of the way without Von Miller‘s sidekick. Vic Fangio confirmed this is a partial tear, per NFL.com’s James Palmer (on Twitter).
The Broncos took Chubb with the No. 5 overall pick last year and saw him post 12 sacks as a rookie. After three sackless games, the Broncos broke out for five against the Jags. Miller picked up two. However, the perennial Pro Bowler will have a tougher time on this front going forward. The chips and double-teams Miller has frequently seen in his career figure to increase, with the Broncos not as deep as they once were on the edge. Chubb returned to help Miller apply pressure on Gardner Minshew on Denver’s final drive. The Jags still kicked a game-winning field goal and sent the Broncos to 0-4 for the first time in 20 years.
The team did not address the position in the draft or free agency, letting Shaquil Barrett and Shane Ray walk. Barrett leads the NFL in sacks, and Ray is again a free agent. Rookie UDFA Malik Reed is in line to succeed Chubb. The Broncos played Sunday without offseason additions Kareem Jackson, Bryce Callahan and Ja’Wuan James. They have a Week 5 game against the Chargers in Los Angeles. Denver has never started 0-5.
Need to do a Poll for next years Broncos QB.
This rash of injuries to the Denver Broncos roster borders on genius to the point of jinx and superstition. Like I bet nobody in the locker room says, “well, at least we still have…”
Let’s go 12-4