For their season opener, the Broncos may not have receiver Jerry Jeudy.
Jeudy will be out for “several weeks” with the hamstring injury he suffered during Thursday’s joint practice with the Rams.
Jeudy got carted off the field after he went down during a drill and grabbed his right hamstring.
After practice, head coach Sean Payton said he was to have an MRI.
#Broncos WR Jerry Jeudy was carted off today during joint practices with the Rams. pic.twitter.com/80SitoBmfL
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) August 24, 2023
It would mean the receiver won’t be available for Denver’s Week One matchup against Las Vegas and perhaps beyond.
The 15th overall pick of the 2020 draft, Jeudy had his fifth-year option picked up by the Broncos in the spring.
“It’s a hamstring,” Broncos coach Sean Payton confirmed after practice. “We’ll get an MRI and see where he’s at with it.”
The Broncos open the regular season Sept. 10 against the Las Vegas Raiders, 17 days from Thursday.
Jeudy suffered the injury running an end-around in team drills during a joint practice with the Los Angeles Rams. Jeudy quickly grabbed his upper right leg after the play, was initially treated by the team’s trainers on the field, and then was taken to the locker room on a cart.
He held his right leg just above the knee while riding in the cart and could put almost no weight on the injured leg when he got helped into the locker room.
The Broncos’ preseason finale is Saturday night against the Rams.
Jeudy is the fifth wide receiver since the start of training camp who may be out of the lineup for an extended period.
Tim Patrick suffered a season-ending torn Achilles tendon in the first week of camp. KJ Hamler was diagnosed with a heart ailment and treated with medication (he was released).
Second-year receiver Jalen Virgil suffered a knee injury this past Saturday’s preseason loss to the San Francisco 49ers and is now on injured reserve.
Brandon Johnson also missed several weeks of practice with a leg injury and returned to practice Thursday.
Jeudy missed three games with an ankle injury last season and had some hamstring troubles in the off-season workouts leading into the 2022 season.
He was also held out of some of the Broncos’ offseason work this past spring with a thigh injury.
Jeudy also missed six games with an ankle injury in 2021 to go with another game due to COVID-19 protocols.
He has battled drops in this training camp, but the Broncos believed he has continued to show more of a comfort level in the new offense.
Jeudy and Courtland Sutton had worked many of the snaps with the starters in practice since Patrick got injured.
Jeudy had 37 receptions for 523 yards and three touchdowns over the last six games in 2022, including a career-best 154 yards receiving in the season finale against the Chargers and a career-best three touchdowns against the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 14.
Payton said Thursday it was too soon to say how the Broncos would divide the workload in the coming weeks.
Rookie Marvin Mims Jr., who missed time on the offseason program and early in camp with two separate hamstring issues, has worked with the starters more and more in recent weeks.
