Denver Broncos Injury News 2016: Omar Bolden Out for the Rest of the Playoffs with Right Knee Injury
The Denver Broncos is one game away from a return to the Super Bowl, but they will have to find ways to get there without the services of Omar Bolden. The team, through head coach Gary Kubiak, announced on Monday that because of a partially torn PCL on his right knee, Bolden has been placed on injured reserve and will no longer be able to have him available to play on Sunday's conference championship matchup against the New England Patriots.
The injury happened during the 23-16 Broncos win against the Pittsburgh Steelers in their AFC divisional round game. And with this development, rookie cornerback Taurean Nixon has been elevated from the practice squad to fill Bolden's spot.
The good news, though, is that he does not need any surgery to correct the problem, but his recovery time is expected to be at least a couple of weeks. Basically, his season has ended in a somehow inopportune time; just about when his team is making the final push to the biggest stage in American sports — the Super Bowl.
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The strong safety's injury took place in punt coverage with a little over six minutes remaining in the opening quarter of the game. After visibly grimacing in pain, he was attended by medical trainers to figure out what the problem was. He eventually was taken to the locker room and failed to return to the game.
Bolden averaged 22.8 yards per return on kickoffs this season, while also averaging 24.6 yards per return on his five punt returns. He also played 48 snaps on defense during the regular season, playing as reserve safety. Before this latest injury, he also missed some time in the regular season due to a hamstring injury. In his place, Emmanuel Sanders and Jordan Norwood will be sharing punt return duties, while Norwood will also be sharing with Andre Caldwell the kickoff return duties.
