The Denver Broncos aren’t taking any chances with rookie tight end Greg Dulcich, who’s been nursing a hamstring injury since the start of training camp.
One day after the 53-man roster was set, the Broncos placed Dulcich on injured reserve, ruling him out for the first four games of the season. Denver couldn’t put Dulcich on IR before the roster was set because that would have ruled him out for the entire year.
The Broncos’ medical staff doesn’t think Dulcich needs all of the four weeks to completely recover, but the team wants to be extremely cautious with the third-round draft pick.
“Hamstrings are strange,” general manager George Paton said Tuesday. “He was really close to coming back then he tweaked it. I wouldn’t call it a setback, but he just can’t get over that hump. He thinks he can probably be ready maybe in a week or two, but we don’t — and I’ve said this a number of times — we want to protect him from himself, so we’re going to do that.
“We’re going to take the conservative route, which we like to do with these types of injuries. He’s going to help us win a lot of football games this year. He’ll be ready after those four games are up. In the meantime, he’ll be training, and you guys see him working. We look forward to getting him back.”
After placing Dulcich on IR, the Broncos re-signed TE Eric Tomlinson to fill the extra spot on the 53-man roster. Denver also placed cornerback Michael Ojemudia (elbow) on IR and re-signed nose tackle Mike Purcell. Just like with Dulcich, the Broncos expect Ojemudia to be completely healed in time for a Week 5 return.
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