The Broncos have placed starting CB A.J. Bouye on injured reserve, per the league’s transaction wire. As such, he will miss at least the next three weeks of action.
Bouye suffered a dislocated shoulder during Monday night’s loss to the Titans. As Mike Garafolo of the NFL Network tweeted yesterday, the team was hopeful that the one-time Pro Bowler would not miss much time, but the damage was too extensive to avoid a trip to IR. Luckily, under the modified rules for 2020, he will be eligible to return much sooner than he would have been in any other year.
Denver acquired Bouye via trade with the Jaguars in March, sending a 2020 fourth-round selection to Jacksonville in exchange. He ended up playing in just 28 snaps in his Broncos debut, but he made the most of that limited action, recording a pass defensed and generally looking like the player the team hoped it was getting.
In Bouye’s absence, third-round rookie Michael Ojemudia stepped up and performed well. And the Broncos also got a full game out of Bryce Callahan, who missed all of last season — his first in Denver — with a broken foot. Ojemudia and Callahan will continue to man the outside cornerback spots while Bouye is on the sidelines, as head coach Vic Fangio told the team’s official website.
The Broncos take on two potentially potent aerial attacks in their next two games against the Steelers and Buccaneers, though they will get something of a reprieve against the Jets in Week 4.
Unfortunately for Denver, there is not much in the way of experience in the secondary. Ojemudia played very well in his debut, but with two veteran QBs coming up the next two weeks, he is going to see a lot of targets-especially things like slant-and-go routes, playaction routes, anything that will try and bait him into misplaying the route and is not overall common in the college game.
Callahan is a great nickel corner, and the most optimal space for him is inside. Fangio used him in this role to great effect in Chicago, and Callahan followed Fangio to Denver to continue playing it. He is a smart corner with great instincts, but I wonder if Denver would get more out of playing him inside, even with Bouye out?
The good news is that Fangio managed to get the most out of his front seven, even with the injuries Denver has had. They did very well against Henry all night. Henry ended up with over 100 yards of course, but it took him 31 carries and he was frequently stopped behind the line. If Denver can repeat that effort, it is unlikely that a lesser back would repeat Henry’s yardage total-and some ways, Henry’s 100+ obscured the difficulty of his game in getting there. Maybe that’s a boon for Denver in disguising how good their run defense could be, provided that this game is not a fluke.