Brandon Johnson

The Broncos made a number of moves leading up to their matchup with the Raiders tomorrow afternoon, according to the team’s managing editor Ben Swanson. Denver placed starting linebacker Jonas Griffith on injured reserve, replacing his roster spot with long snapper Jacob Bobenmoyer after activating the special teamer from IR. The team signed offensive tackle Quinn Bailey to the active roster from the practice squad and promoted wide receiver Brandon Johnson and linebacker Harvey Langi as standard gameday elevations.

Griffith has earned a place on one of the league’s top defenses after going undrafted in 2020 out of Indiana State. After bouncing between San Francisco and Indianapolis during his rookie season, Griffith was traded to the Broncos due to a stellar preseason before the 2021 season. An impressive first year in Denver with four starts in 13 game appearance led the team to tender him an exclusive-rights free agent offer. In his second season with the team, Griffith has started eight of the Broncos’ nine games. He’s nearly matched his entire production from last season at just past the halfway point of this season.

Unfortunately, that may be all of the season that Griffith sees. After aggravating a foot injury this week in practice, Griffith is headed to IR and expected to stay there for the remainder of the season, according to Mike Klis of 9NEWS. His injury piles onto a season-long issue for the Broncos who now have 13 players on IR and have seen missed time from several other contributors. In his absence, Alex Singleton will likely take the starting spot next to Josey Jewell at inside linebacker, possibly getting some help from Langi who could make his Broncos debut after joining the team’s practice squad over a month ago.

Bobenmoyer is set to return after sitting out the four games required before returning from IR. Bobenmoyer found himself on the injured list after suffering an injury to the hand/wrist area in a Week 5 overtime loss to the Colts. Bobenmoyer was replaced by practice squad long snapper Mitchell Fraboni who filled in well during the four weeks Bobenmoyer was out until getting placed on IR himself with a fractured finger. Bobenmoyer’s return comes just in time, helping the Broncos avoid the use of a third long snapper in just one season.

Johnson could make his NFL debut this week as a gameday elevation. The undrafted rookie, who caught 11 touchdowns for UCF last year, started the season on IR before getting waived with an injury settlement shortly after the start of the season. He returned to the practice squad about a month ago and could end up making an impact as starting wide receivers Jerry Jeudy and KJ Hamler have been listed as out for tomorrow, Tim Patrick remains on IR, and Kendall Hinton is listed as questionable with a shoulder injury. Denver could be operating with a total of four healthy receivers in Courtland Sutton, Jalen Virgil, Montrell Washington, and Johnson if Hinton is not available.