Broncos S P.J. Locke Carted Off But 'Going to be Fine'
Denver Broncos safety P.J. Locke was carted off the field with an apparent lower left leg injury sustained during Tuesday's training camp practice. Locke went down while in a coverage drill and couldn't put any weight on his leg before the medical staff whisked him to the locker room for examination.
Fortunately, a disaster appears to have been averted.
“He’s going to be fine," head coach Sean Payton said after practice.
Locke, who's entering his fifth season in Denver, is competing for a backup role behind presumed starting safeties Justin Simmons and Caden Sterns. He notched a pair of solo tackles on 33 defensive snaps amid last week's preseason loss to Arizona.
His carting-off was a cause for concern as the Broncos find themselves ailing at the position, with Simmons battling a tweaked groin, Sterns limited by an undisclosed ailment, and graybeard Kareem Jackson not practicing Tuesday.
This left the lion's share of reps to second-year S Delarrin Turner-Yell and rookies JL Skinner and Devon Key — an unideal situation that Payton was quick to downplay.
"I think the idea that we’ve had a run [of injuries] is exaggerated," he said. "If you look around the league—we get the reports. Obviously, we had a tough one early with [WR] Tim [Patrick] and then the following day or two, we had an ACL [with ILB Jonas Griffith]. Outside of that—a sports hernia. I think the guys are handling the practices well.”
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