ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — The 2020 season is all of eight quarters old and the Denver Broncos are already without many of their top players.
Wide receiver Courtland Sutton suffered a torn ACL in Sunday’s 26-21 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers and will miss the remainder of the season. Sutton had missed the season opener with a right shoulder injury suffered Sept. 8 in practice and had been limited in practice in the days leading up to Sunday’s game.
Additionally, Broncos quarterback Drew Lock will miss 3 to 5 weeks with a severe strain of the rotator cuff in his throwing shoulder, an injury he suffered in the first quarter Sunday.
“Drew’s going to be out anywhere from three to four to five weeks,” Denver coach Vic Fangio said. “It all depends on the healing process … when it’s your throwing shoulder it’s going to take time to heal it, it’s got to calm down, get his strength back to where he fully has it, and he can operate at a hundred percent.”
Lock and Sutton join a Broncos injury list that includes linebacker Von Miller (ankle surgery) and running back Phillip Lindsay (toe). Miller could miss the remainder of the season, while Lindsay, who sat out Sunday, is expected to be sidelined for multiple weeks.
Sutton was already a significant question mark to play Sunday because of the shoulder injury, but he showed the team enough in Friday’s practice and felt good enough Saturday to play Sunday. His last catch of the game came with 6 minutes, 23 seconds left in the second quarter when he reeled in a 45-yard pass from Jeff Driskel.
Game video shows Sutton limping slightly after the catch — he got tangled with Steelers cornerback Joe Haden as the two fell to the ground — but Sutton stayed in the game. He was the intended receiver on Driskel’s interception, by Haden, with 2:09 remaining in the first half.
Sutton, who had three receptions for 66 yards, played 31 plays in the game. The third-year receiver made his first Pro Bowl trip last season, as an injury replacement for DeAndre Hopkins, when he finished 2019 as the team leader in receptions (72), receiving yards (1,112) and receiving touchdowns (six).
An already young Broncos offense will now feature one of the youngest wide receiver groups in the league as three rookies — Jerry Jeudy, KJ Hamler and Tyrie Cleveland — will get plenty of work in the weeks ahead. Fangio said “it will be the guys on the roster filling that void [left by Sutton].” Denver had seven wideouts on roster and will go with six for now.
Jeudy, the team’s first-round pick in the 2020 draft, is currently second on the team in catches and receiving yards.
