Aside from one situation, Broncos coach Vic Fangio doesn’t expect to have any “live” practice action before the Sept. 14 opener against Tennessee.
“We may have a short-yardage/goal-line live period, but other than that, probably not,” he said after practice Tuesday.
Early in training camp, Fangio floated the idea of going live to give management and the coaching staff a chance to evaluate the young players. But through 13 practices, the Broncos have had only one live period (goal-line).
“It’s not an easy decision to make,” Fangio said. “Part of the thought going into it was we always had the preseason games for (evaluating tackling skills) so we didn’t have to worry about it (in practice). Now, if you do 12-24 live plays between now and game-time, how much is that simulating it? Everybody may get one or two shots.
“We made the decision as an organization to not do it outside of some isolated (drills).”
What likely pushed the Broncos away from going live is roster attrition. The Broncos have 79 players — not counting injured players and specialists, 67 players were available.
Asked about entering the season without any contact, Fangio said: “Am I concerned about it? Yeah, I am, but that’s the choice and decision we made.”
Injury report. Nine players did not participate in the two-hour practice Tuesday: Inside linebacker Todd Davis (calf), right guard Graham Glasgow (ankle), outside linebacker Bradley Chubb (knee), safety Alijah Holder (soft tissue), cornerback Michael Ojemudia (quad), tight ends Troy Fumagalli (abdomen) and Austin Fort (knee), and receivers KJ Hamler (hamstring) and Juwann Winfree (groin).
Fangio said Fumagalli underwent a “procedure” on Monday.
“He’s going to be fine — (it will) probably be a week or so before he’s back, but when he’s back, he (will be) 100% and (have) no lingering effects,” Fangio said.
Fumagalli’s injury could create a tough roster decision on Saturday: Stash him on the 53-man roster if he’s only going to miss one game, or, after he’s on the initial roster, place him on injured reserve (out a minimum of three weeks).
Hamler, Davis, Ojemudia, Holder and Winfree were in full pads and took the team stretch before working on a side field.
“I wanted them doing their rehab work in pads — get them used to doing their work in helmets and shoulder pads,” Fangio said.
Testing results. The NFL and NFLPA released COVID-19 test results Tuesday for Aug. 21-29 and there were four positive tests among players and six positive tests among personnel. A total of 58,621 tests were administered to 8,739 players/team personnel — $23,279 in tests to 2,747 players and $35,342 in tests to 5,992 personnel.
Since testing began in late July, fullback/tight end Andrew Beck has been the only Broncos player placed on the COVID-19 list and he missed only two practices.
Footnote. New inside linebacker Mark Barron’s one-year contract is worth $2.5 million with $1 million guaranteed, according to a league source. That’s a significant pay cut from what he earned with the Rams in 2018 ($11 million cap number) and with Pittsburgh last year ($3.875 million cap number). … The Broncos listed inside linebacker Justin Strnad on injured reserve so he is officially out for the season. Strnad underwent wrist surgery August 23.
