Injuries have played large role in Broncos disappointing season
When the story of the Broncos 2022 season is written, there will be several chapters dedicated to Russell Wilson's decline and first-year head coach Nathaniel Hackett being in over his head as the team's coach. While Wilson and Hackett deserve much of the blame for Denver's disappointing season, injuries have played a large roll as well.
This season 21 players have been placed on Injured Reserve. Key starters like Tim Patrick, Garett Bolles and Javonte Williams missed most if not all of the season while other starters like Justin Simmons, Russell Wilson and K'Waun Williams were never placed on I.R. but did miss multiple games. At least 9 players, who were expected to start, missed multiple games with injuries. As of three weeks ago, no team had racked up more injuries than the Broncos.
Some of it is bad luck, some of it is General Manager George Paton signing free agents with significant injury histories and some of it might be how the Broncos train their players. Team CEO Greg Penner has already been in touch with medical professionals investigating why they have been hit hard by the injury bug.
So the Broncos are aware this needs to change.
While coaches love to use the "Next Man Up" phrase, it's hard to win without your best players in a highly competitive league like the NFL.
