ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — The injury-riddled Denver Broncos declared five players out of Sunday’s game against the Las Vegas Raiders, including inside linebacker Jonas Griffith, who aggravated a knee injury at practice on Thursday.
Five other players were listed as having a 50-50 shot at playing.
Griffith is the third Broncos player to get hurt at practice since last week when receiver KJ Hamler and fullback/tight end Andrew Beck pulled hamstrings coming off Denver’s bye.
Hamler and Beck will both miss the game Sunday as will receiver Jerry Jeudy, who injured an ankle on the Broncos’ first offensive play at Tennessee last week. Slot cornerback K’Waun Williams is out with wrist, elbow and knee injuries.
Coach Nathaniel Hackett also said Friday that receiver Kendall Hinton (shoulder), linebacker Baron Browning (hip), guard Graham Glasgow (shoulder), O-lineman Tom Compton (back) and tackle Cam Fleming (thigh) were all questionable.
Four other players were listed on the injury report this week but are expected to play Sunday, including star safety Justin Simmons, who sat out last week with a sprained knee.
Additionally, 14 Broncos players are on injured reserve.
Hackett called the injuries “unbelievably unfortunate” as the Broncos seek to bounce back from a 3-6 start.
“Obviously, when things happen out on the field, you can’t prevent those,” Hackett said. “We are looking at it all. We have them do so many different things from hydration tests to sleep monitoring to asking them surveys — as much as we can. Sometimes things happen, and for whatever reason, it’s happened a lot this year. It’s unfortunate, but it gives other guys opportunities to play.”
The Raiders (2-7) listed four players as questionable: star receiver Davante Adams (abdomen), linebackers Luke Masterson (ribs) and Denzel Perryman (ribs) and tackle Kolton Miller (shoulder/abdomen).
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