The Denver Broncos already notched a big win here at the start of the 2024 season, and they haven't even taken the field against the Seattle Seahawks.
The Broncos went from being one of the most frequently injured teams in the NFL in 2022 with more money on injured reserve than any other team in the league to being one of the healthiest teams in the league in 2023 under head coach Sean Payton and his training staff, led by Beau Lowery (VP of Player Health & Performance).
Now, the Broncos were forced to turn in their first injury report ahead of their Week 1 matchup against the Seahawks on Wednesday, and the report showed something I personally have never seen before, and I've been covering the Broncos since 2013. This particular injury report was completely empty...
Broncos Week 1 injury report is completely empty
We have no players listed with injury designations after today's practice.
— Denver Broncos (@Broncos) September 4, 2024
Wednesday's #DENvsSEA injury report » https://t.co/3ds4BMFmh1 pic.twitter.com/72rrkznaor
Again, this is something I can't recall ever seeing as long as I've been covering the Denver Broncos. An injury report without anyone on it is bordering on unheard of. The Broncos have done such an amazing job of taking care of the players on the roster and while there are players on injured reserve this year, it's very minimal and one injury (Drew Sanders) didn't even occur during football activities.
To put it lightly, this is a huge win for head coach Sean Payton and the Walton-Penner Ownership Group, who have done their part to invest in player recovery and maintaining the health of these guys in a brutal sport.
The Broncos are going into their matchup against the Seattle Seahawks with a fully healthy roster, which is really exciting. We aren't going to have to talk about different players who should be playing in this game or how different the matchups would be if someone was playing.
The Broncos will have all their guys ready to go for this one, and that's a lot of fun.
It will also make for some interesting roster decisions as the Broncos look to put together their top 46 with seven required inactive players. Because the expectation is that the Broncos will be calling up fullback Michael Burton and wide receiver Lil'Jordan Humphrey from the practice squad (not a certainty just yet), we could see a whopping nine players on the 53-man roster deactivated as a result.
Perhaps the Broncos will opt to roll with the guys they've already got on the 53 for this game but they will determine that based on specific matchups they're looking to exploit.