The Broncos placed running back Tyler Badie on injured reserve Saturday, according to the league’s transaction wire.
Badie, 25, injured his back Sunday against the New York Jets and did not practice at all this week. He will miss a minimum of four games but sources have told The Denver Post over the past week that the hope is he can return to the field later this season. He’ll first be eligible to return Week 9 at Baltimore.
Badie provided juice to a Broncos run game that lacked production the first two weeks of the season. He rushed for 70 yards Week 3 at Tampa Bay, then was signed to the active roster from the practice squad ahead of a Week 4 game at the Jets.
Badie was hit and fumbled the ball against the Jets. He got off the field on his own, but later went down on the Denver sideline and was immobilized on a backboard and taken to the locker room on a cart. After evaluation at a hospital, he was released later that day and traveled back to Denver a few hours after the team.
Badie has 11 carries for 86 yards on the season.
The Broncos will rely primarily on Javonte Williams and Jaleel McLaughlin on Sunday against Las Vegas and will likely have rookie Blake Watson active on game day for the first time if they continue their normal trend of having three backs active for each game.
Denver also signed Salvon Ahmed to the practice squad earlier this week but did not elevate him for game day.
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Placing Badie on injured reserve gives Denver an open spot on its 53-man roster which it did not immediately fill. It could sign or promote a player early next week or could simply save the spot in the event that rookie running back Audric Estime is ready to return from injured reserve next week.
The Broncos made one practice squad elevation for Sunday’s game in rookie inside linebacker Levelle Bailey. It’s the second straight week Bailey will be elevated for game day.
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