The Denver Broncos placed 25 players on injured reserve last season, tied for the second-highest total in the NFL only behind the Tennessee Titans (32).
Those injuries can’t be attributed to just one primary factor, but new Broncos coach Sean Payton has taken steps this offseason in an effort to attempt to reduce the team’s injuries in 2023.
Payton will have their starters play in preseason this summer, and the team will tackle at practice. Whether or not that helps remains to be seen. Payton also brought in a new strength coach and conditioning coach this offseason and — perhaps most notably — the team also hired a vice president of player health and performance in Beau Lowery.
“I don’t know that there’s one bullet point,” Payton said at the NFL owners’ meetings last week when asked about the team’s injuries in 2022. “There is probably a series of things. Typically, when you have the season that went like it did last year, there’s a lot of people with dirt on their hands. It’s not just one thing. Beau Lowery — we hired him to come [to Denver]. I’ve worked with Beau and he’s outstanding. He’ll head up the training room, strength [and conditioning], sports science and all of that. He’s someone that is outstanding. It’s hard in our league. The training room is one of those rooms where it’s hard — the grass is always greener.
“For a period of five, six, seven years there, I’ve watched it flip with him and the trust of the players and getting treatment. So much so that this past offseason, Drew [Brees] had a shoulder procedure done separate from football. When the surgery was finished, he flew to Baton Rouge to have Beau and his group work on it. It’s something you earn with your players. He’s got an amazing way about him and he’s also very well respected. Where he did his fellowship and the doctors that he’s worked with — we’re lucky to have him. That’s just only one element of your question. I can’t look back and say, ‘Alright, this is why all these different things happen.’ I do know that we’re playing tackle football and you have to practice tackle football.”
Injuries will always happen in football. They can’t be completely eliminated, but the Broncos will hope that changes to the team’s training routine combined with the addition of Lowery might help reduce their number of injuries going forward.
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