Broncos Confirm Season-Ending ACL Injury to CB Ronald Darby

The Denver Broncos can't get out of the injury bug's way.

When it rains, it pours. And right now, the Denver Broncos find themselves under a torrential downpour of misfortune.  

On the heels of an ugly 12-9 overtime loss to the Indianapolis Colts, the Broncos were dealt a pair of additional blows when testing revealed that starting left tackle Garett Bolles' broken leg will require surgery. He's done for the year. 

But wait, there's more. 

Starting cornerback Ronald Darby also exited Thursday night's football abomination with a knee injury and we learned from head coach Nathaniel Hackett on Friday morning that he tore his ACL and will (you guessed it) miss the rest of the season. 

"Darby has a [torn] ACL, he will also be out for the season," Hackett said. 

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With all the other aspects of this team that are careening off the track, adding injuries to key players only exacerbates the pressure. It can lead to a 'to hell with it' mentality of players disengaging and not buying into the coaches. 

“Injuries are a thing that, as a coach, I can’t control," Hackett said. "I mean, especially the ones that we’re having... As a coach, I can’t control it, I can only move forward. I can only go to the drawing board, grind and try to find ways to put people in good positions."

Fortunately for the Broncos, Patrick Surtain II is playing inspired football. Unfortunately, the team's cornerback depth is sketchy beyond him and nickel savant K'Waun Williams. There's rookie fourth-rounder Damarri Mathis and Darius Phillips, who's yet to do jack squat as a Bronco, sidelined indefinitely by injury.

Mathis provides hope that the Darby vacuum can be filled, but again, he's a rookie. Essang Bassey is also still around, but he's more of a nickel guy, not really cut out for the boundary at 5-foot-10. Undrafted rookie JaQuan McMillian is likely to get signed from the practice squad, unless the Broncos opt to go off-roster for cornerback depth. 

Whoever the Broncos call on, though, it's the 'next man up' mentality.  

"The new guys that are going to have to go in there, we have to find a way to make those guys successful," Hackett said. "That’s our job and it crushes me because they’re such good guys and they’ve worked so hard. We’re 2-3 right now and it’s not where we wanted to be, but that’s where we are. I feel bad for those guys because they can’t be a part of us bringing us out of this, but they are going to be there for us.”

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