The Broncos on Wednesday placed safety Caden Sterns on injured reserve, the team announced.
Head coach Sean Payton said he expects Sterns’ torn patellar tendon to cost him the rest of the season.
The third-year safety injured his knee on his second defensive snap of Denver’s opener Sunday against Las Vegas. Sterns played in just five games in 2022 before a hip impingement impacted him enough that he had surgery and missed the final 12 games of the year.
The Broncos filled his roster spot by signing wide receiver Lil’Jordan Humphrey to the active roster from the practice squad.
Humphrey didn’t make the initial 53-man roster late last month, but was elevated to the game day roster from the practice squad against the Raiders, caught a touchdown and played the second-most snaps among Broncos wide receivers.
Humphrey gives Denver five receivers on the 53-man roster, joining Jerry Jeudy (hamstring), Courtland Sutton, Marvin Mims, Jr. and Brandon Johnson.
“He’s got strong hands, he can block and he’s a physical receiver,” Payton said of Humphrey. “There’s a size element to what he does. He operates pretty well in tight quarters. We don’t put him out wide all the time, we’ll usually have him in the slot. You know exactly what you’re getting. Like tonight, when put third down up (on the video screen) and go through it (to game-plan), I kind of know what he is and what he does well.”
Denver filled the practice squad spot by signing receiver Michael Bandy, who spent most of training camp with the team.
Dulcich update. Tight end Greg Dulcich, who injured his hamstring Sunday vs. Las Vegas, did light work on the side field but did not move above walking speed during the portion of practice open to reporters.
Dulcich had multiple recurrences of the right hamstring injury as a rookie. The first cost him much of the offseason and then the first five games of the 2022 season. The second cost him the final two games of the year.
“Each one is different,” Payton said. “Shoot, we’re three days removed from it and he felt better today. We treat it. Just like we did with Jerry (Jeudy), (vice president of player health and performance Beau Lowery) and his staff will do a great job of going through the correct rehab and all the things necessary.”
It’s a positive preliminary sign that Dulcich was not placed on injured reserve, an indication Denver thinks he’ll be able to return in less than four games, which is the minimum required on IR. That would mean a return by, at the latest, Week 5 against the New York Jets. But that also assumes Dulcich has no setbacks in his bid to return from hamstring injuries, which can be fickle.
Injury latest. Elsewhere on the injury list, Jeudy (hamstring), OLB Frank Clark (hip), CB Riley Moss (core) and DT D.J. Jones (knee) were limited Wednesday.
Payton said Jeudy, who worked out on the field before Sunday’s game against Las Vegas, was close to playing in Week 1.
“It was a gameday decision,” Payton said. “Hamstrings are tricky, though, and the idea of possibly getting set back two or three more weeks. But he was close. We had a workout pregame to go through it and made our decision off that.”
Nickel K’Waun Williams did conditioning work on the side field Wednesday, the first practice he’s been spotted at in weeks. Williams had ankle surgery Aug. 29 and started the season on injured reserve.
Also on the side field: Fellow injured reserve players P.J. Locke (ankle) and offensive lineman Alex Palczewski (hand).
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