In terms of Christmas presents, the Broncos’ offense could do worse than getting a return of their top wide receiver from injury.
Head coach Nathaniel Hackett said Monday he’s hopeful that Courtland Sutton can return to action Sunday against the Los Angeles Rams. Sutton injured his hamstring during the second quarter Dec. 4 against Baltimore and has missed Denver’s past two games. He has yet to return to practice, though he did some conditioning work on the side last week.
“We’re definitely hoping for Courtland,” Hackett said. “It’s a hamstring, so we want to be smart with it. We’ve been dealing with these quite a bit this year, so we don’t want anything to re-aggravate. But he’s been working really hard and the training staff has been doing a great job to make him potentially available for this week.”
Kendall Hinton injured his hamstring late in Denver’s Dec. 11 loss to Kansas City and has not returned to practice, either.
OL updates: Hackett on Monday said offensive lineman Tom Compton would be “day-to-day” as the team tries to determine the extent of the back injury he sustained Sunday against Arizona.
Denver first lost starting right guard Quinn Meinerz to an eye injury, and although Meinerz did not return to the game, he avoided serious injury. Then left guard Dalton Risner also missed time with an elbow issue and Compton left the game in the third quarter. That left rookie Luke Wattenberg to fill in on both sides. The fifth-round pick has now played both guard spots, center and served as an extra tight end for a snap this season.
“I thought he did a really fine job,” Hackett said of the rookie’s performance after a rough outing against Kansas City. “… To watch him out there being impactful and moving the double team and being aggressive, that’s what you want. Because now he’s just playing football, and that’s what you want from your young players. I was really impressed with that.”
Roster moves: The Broncos on Monday placed linebacker Dakota Allen on injured reserve with a hamstring injury and signed offensive lineman Christian DiLauro from their practice squad to the active roster, according to the NFL’s transaction wire.
Allen was signed off Cleveland’s practice squad earlier in the season and appeared on special teams in two games for Denver.
DiLauro joined the practice squad earlier in the season. He’s appeared in one career game, last year for the Tennessee Titans.
Preparing for Mayfield: Denver is likely to see Baker Mayfield start at quarterback for the Rams. He engineered a game-winning, 98-yard touchdown drive against Las Vegas in his first outing and will be in just his third game with the franchise Sunday against the Broncos.
“Gonna have to watch him a little bit more and get a feel for him,” Hackett said of the top overall pick in the 2018 draft, who has played for Cleveland, Carolina and now the Rams. “He’s been in a lot of places — I think three places just this year. I know that’s difficult, what he’s going through, so I give him so much credit. For anybody to be able to enter into a team and pick up the system and be able to operate it, I don’t think anybody understands how difficult that is.”
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