How long will the Bronco’s Russell Wilson be sidelined with his hamstring injury?
With no official word as to when he could return, the Broncos QB is looking at a potentially lengthy period of time out.
With reports now confirming that the Broncos will be without their starting QB when they take on the Jets on Sunday, all eyes will now be on their backup signal caller. Can he get the job done?
Broncos lose Russell Wilson to hamstring injury ahead of Jets clash
According to a team announcement on Saturday, Broncos backup quarterback Brett Rypien is now set to start on Sunday against the New York Jets due to a hamstring injury sustained by starter Russell Wilson. Indeed, the franchise QB had been fighting to recover from the injury in the hope that he could play against New York, however, that now seems to be out of the question. Head coach Nathaniel Hackett had previously listed Wilson as a game-time decision, but the team has ultimately decided to take the cautious route instead.
As per reports, Wilson has a partially torn hamstring which was sustained during the second half of Monday’s 19-16 overtime loss to the Chargers. It’s worth mentioning that Wilson had already been suffering from a lateral strain for which he had received an injection, but was deemed healthy enough to play on Monday night. To be fair, until he suffered the injury, he was in fact playing well. Unfortunately, due to the nature of Wilson’s injury, it’s now hard to say exactly when he will return, but what’s sure is that it won’t be next week.
Where do the Broncos stand and what about Brett Rypien?
This is of course sad news for both Wilson and the team. Indeed, Wilson had been limited in practice all week and was in fact splitting first-team reps with Rypien. “We’re [having] a very open dialogue and making sure we put someone out there that’s healthy and can go out there and play at a high level,” Hackett said on Thursday about Wilson’s situation and the possibility of a Rypien start. “…In the end, the doctors, myself, [GM] George [Paton], we have to make sure we make the right decision for the team.”
As for Rypien himself, the 2019 undrafted QB comes into the fray with the Broncos sitting on a 2-4 record. The former Boise State player has been in between the Broncos’ practice squad and the active roster since he arrived. In 2020, he actually had a Week 4 start against the Jets on “Thursday Night Football” and managed to spearhead a 37-28 win against New York. Since that time, he’s not taken a snap. Risking the tag of ‘harsh,’ the Broncos are currently last in scoring offense with an average of 15.2 points per game. That’s to say they can’t really do much worse. On the flip side, their defense has been in the top four where points and yards allowed are concerned. The Broncos have only allowed one opponent to score more than 20 points against them. With that in mind, who’s to say that with that kind of protection, Rypien can’t get things going on Sunday night.