The Denver Broncos‘ wide receivers have had a rough summer in terms of injuries, and on Thursday, Jerry Jeudy was helped off the practice field after suffering a right hamstring injury.
“It’s a hamstring,” Broncos coach Sean Payton confirmed after practice. “We’ll get an MRI and see where he’s at with it.”
According to numerous team sources who spoke to ESPN, Jeudy will be out for at least a few weeks. It will be 17 days from Thursday when the Broncos play their first regular-season game against the Las Vegas Raiders.
Jeudy was hurt while participating in team drills at a joint practice with the Los Angeles Rams. He was hurt running an end-around. After the incident, Jeudy immediately grasped his upper right leg. He received treatment from the team’s trainers on the field before being wheeled to the locker room on a cart.
While riding in the cart, he held his right leg just above the knee, and as he was carried into the locker room, he could hardly put any weight on the hurt leg. The Broncos’ final preseason game is against the Rams on Saturday night.
Since the start of training camp, Jeudy is the fifth wide receiver who may be forced to miss a significant amount of time from the lineup. Tim Patrick tore his Achilles tendon, ending his season, in the first week of training camp. KJ Hamler was also released after receiving treatment for a heart condition. Second-year receiver Jalen Virgil hurt his knee in this past Saturday’s preseason loss to the San Francisco 49ers.
Additionally, Brandon Johnson missed several weeks of practice due to a leg issue before returning on Thursday.
Jeudy experienced some hamstring issues during the offseason practices going up to the 2022 season and missed three games due to an ankle injury last year. Additionally, a thigh issue kept him from participating in portions of the Broncos’ offseason training this past spring.
In 2021, Jeudy also missed one game and six games owing to an ankle injury combined with COVID-19 treatments.
Although he has struggled with drops a bit this training camp, the Broncos felt he has continued to demonstrate a greater level of confidence with the new approach. Since Patrick’s injury, Jeudy and Courtland Sutton have taken the majority of the starters’ practice snaps.
Over the final six games of 2022, Jeudy had 37 receptions for 523 yards and three touchdowns, including a season-high 154 yards receiving and a career-high three touchdowns against the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 14.
Payton said on Thursday that it was too early to predict how the Broncos would distribute the workload in the coming weeks, but rookie Marvin Mims Jr. has been working with the starting more and more lately after missing time during the offseason program and early in camp due to two different hamstring injuries.
