Defensive Line Injuries

Two of the Broncos’ starting defensive linemen are out for the preseason. The good news is that the preaseason doesn’t matter.

Courtney Brown’s troublesome knees acted up again this year at camp, and he had arthroscopic knee surgery yesterday to reduce inflamation in them. Mike Shanahan says Brown will be back by September 10th for the season kickoff versus the Rams (ONE MONTH!) and announced that the operation went extremely well.

A dislocated toe has sidelined Gerard Warren as well, and he likely won’t play until the St. Louis game either. The announced timetable for the Florida alum’s return is two-four weeks, but with little to nothing at stake in the games he’ll miss, the Broncos will probably lean toward the four-week option.

Aside from the glaring lack of negatives (unless the injuries turn out to be worse than thought), there are some positives to this situation. First of all, the Broncos will be able to give fourth round draft pick Elvis Dumervil more practice reps and game time with Brown out. There’s a lot of things that are still unknown about Dumervil: is he too small?, can he play against the rush decently?, does he have the quickness, speed, and moves to succeed above the college level?

It will be interesting to see Dumervil in action. The defensive end had superb numbers at Louisville– he forced 11 fumbles his senior year and once recorded six sacks in a game–but lacks ideal size (5′11″, 257). Some call him a poor man’s Dwight Freeney (6′1″, 268), but his 40 time, 4.68, is .2 seconds slower than the Pro-Bowler’s. There’s only one way to find out he can perform: throwing him into the fray.

Demetrin Veal will also see more game time with the injuries. With Warren out, Veal will fill the team’s right defensive tackle slot. Many of the concerns about Dumervil apply to Veal as well; the long-time backup has below-average size at 6′2″, 288, and there is doubt as to whether or not he can survive in the middle of the line. Again, there’s only one way to see if he’s a pro.

A positive to every negative…hopefully.