Michael Ojemudia will get a chance to shine with AJ Bouye’s shoulder injury.
There’s no doubt that the Denver Broncos have been somewhat snake-bitten by injuries early on in the 2020 season.
Von Miller is out for the year, Courtland Sutton missed the season opener, and both AJ Bouye and Phillip Lindsay were lost in the first game to injuries that could cause them to miss at least a game if not more.
In Bouye’s case, the situation is going to require at least three weeks of rehab as was reported on Wednesday morning by NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport.
#Broncos CB AJ Bouye’s dislocated shoulder underwent tests yesterday, and source said no surgery is planned. It’s on to rehab, and Bouye should be out just a few weeks. That likely means he’s headed to Injured Reserve, from which he can return after just three weeks.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) September 16, 2020
If Bouye heads to injured reserve, it means that he will be on the shelf for a minimum of three weeks. That means that for the next three weeks (at least), we’re going to get a heavy dose of third-round rookie Michael Ojemudia out of Iowa.
Ojemudia had a tremendous NFL debut on Monday Night Football before an unfortunate pass interference penalty late in the fourth quarter.
He had a nice pass breakup on a third-down play against Titans tight end Jonnu Smith, then made an awesome diving interception which was called back on a penalty by Alexander Johnson, a penalty that was highly questionable at best.
Ojemudia came from a very similar defensive scheme with the Iowa Hawkeyes to what Vic Fangio runs in Denver, and he was talked up by the coaches throughout the offseason for being a quick study of the playbook.
At Iowa, Ojemudia always played with instincts and toughness, two traits that helped him tremendously in his NFL debut.
Ojemudia was on the field for 64 defensive snaps in his NFL debut out of a possible 81, and that number could substantially increase in week two against the pass-happy Pittsburgh Steelers.
The Broncos are expecting big things out of their 2020 rookie class with three of their top four picks playing essentially starter roles in their first NFL games.
Ojemudia is going to need to bring the same type of instinctive and physical play to his second NFL game as we saw in week one.