One of the most frustrating aspects of the Denver Broncos’ 2019 campaign was seeing two of the team’s three free agent acquisitions suffer season-ending injuries. To be fair, right tackle Ja’Wuan James never landed in the injured reserve as the Broncos unsuccessfully attempted to massage his knee injury during the regular season.
But at least James got dressed and appeared in three games. However, when it came to cornerback Bryce Callahan, he missed all 16 games in 2019 due to a foot injury.
After undergoing surgery last fall to fix what turned out to be a broken screw in his foot, which apparently broke when a teammate stepped on the injured limb at training ground, Callahan now has more than half a year to rehabilitate. , recover and work back in full force.
To show how far he has come in his recovery, Callahan allowed a video of him working to be released, making it clear where he is in terms of health.
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The foot injury that plagued his first year in Denver was originally suffered in his last month as Chicago Bear. After undergoing surgery to repair his broken foot, Callahan was placed on IR to end the 2018 season. Just three short months later, he became an unrestricted free agent.
With Callahan having been in the belly of the Bears’ beast, Chicago had first-hand knowledge of his foot injury and prognosis and decided not to pursue him to re-sign. However, Denver first-year head coach Vic Fangio was in Windy City as the Bears’ defensive coordinator and was not deterred from signing the five-cent corner for a three-year contract worth $ 21. millions to turn it into a Bronco.
As the Bears’ secondary coach, current Broncos defensive coordinator Ed Donatell personally trained Callahan during the four years of his tenure with the Bears. Perhaps none, including Fangio, know which Callahan is more capable than Donatell.
Donatell has maintained an optimistic outlook on Callahan’s recovery and revealed in a virtual press conference a couple of weeks ago that the corner of the sixth year has returned to health.
“First of all, on the medical side, you’re ready to go,” Donatell said June 11. “He is running at full speed. He will be in our camp and ready to go. He has been fully committed.”
While it is encouraging to hear a coach speak positively of a player recovering from a serious injury, what really convinces is any supporting evidence. Without OTA in person due to the pandemic, the media and fans have been unable to glimpse Callahan.
Now we can confidently say that Callahan is back. It’s just a matter of finding a way to stay healthy throughout the 2020 season, which Callahan has never been able to do as a professional.
By entering the league as a college free agent at Rice University in 2015, Callahan has missed at least three games in each of his five NFL seasons. Let’s hope 2020 is the year he breaks that dubious streak and manages to keep injury error at bay for 16 games.
Callahan is projected as the Broncos’ No. 2 cornerback in defense of the base, while kicking into the slot in nickel and dime subpacks. The Broncos acquired 2017 Pro Bowler AJ Bouye through the Jacksonville trade last spring and selected Michael Ojemudia from Iowa in the third round.
Combined with young starters like De’Vante Bausby, Isaac Yiadom, Duke Dawson and Davante Harris, the Broncos have no shortage of bodies on the corner. It is just a matter of untested boys showing strong development in 2020.
Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadNJensen and @MileHighHuddle.
