(Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
For Delarrin Turner-Yell, the season will end one week early — and a long offseason of rehabilitation looms.
Monday morning, Broncos coach Sean Payton confirmed that the knee injury that Turner-Yell suffered early in Sunday’s win over the Los Angeles Chargers was to his anterior cruciate ligament. The Broncos will place the second-year safety on injured reserve, Payton noted.
Payton added that the injury to the ribs suffered by right tackle Mike McGlinchey was not as serious.
“We’re a lot more optimistic about him,” Payton said.
The coach did not specify whether McGlinchey would land on injured reserve this week.
THE SEASON WAS AN EVENTFUL ONE FOR DELARRIN TURNER-YELL
It was something of a star-crossed campaign for Delarrin Turner-Yell. On the one hand, he got an opportunity for which he longed: a chance to start and play extensively early in the season. He stepped into the lineup in the second quarter of the Broncos’ Week 2 loss to Washington after Kareem Jackson’s ejection and then started the following two games against Miami and Chicago with Justin Simmons out due to injury.
Turner-Yell also built on his special-teams work from his rookie season, and became one of the Broncos’ best contributors on what was arguably the most improved area of the team.
But in the two starts on defense, he struggled — as did the defense as a whole. Washington racked up 24 points in just over two quarters when Turner-Yell played. The following Sunday, Miami picked on Turner-Yell from the opening series, catching him out of position on its opening-series, 54-yard Tua Tagovailoa-to-Tyreek Hill touchdown connection. Miami continued to attack what it perceived as a weak spot, opening the floodgates for the first 70-point performance for any NFL team since 1966.
Turner-Yell did show improvement the following week at Chicago, including a key third-down pass breakup in the fourth quarter to help sustain the Broncos’ momentum en route to a comeback from a 28-7 deficit to their first win of the season.
The 2022 fifth-round pick didn’t return to extensive safety work until Week 10 at Buffalo in the wake of P.J. Locke’s ankle injury. Josh Allen and the Bills mimicked Miami’s tactics and tested the young safety, which helped lead to some big plays at Denver’s expense as Buffalo marched to three touchdowns in the two-plus quarters after Locke’s injury.
With Turner-Yell’s injury, the Broncos are left with three healthy safeties on the 53-player roster: Simmons, Locke and rookie JL Skinner. The Broncos activated Skinner just once in their first 16 games, at Minnesota in Week 11.
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