DENVER — Cut off the cast and let the little guy run.
“I’m ready. In my mind, I’m ready," said Phillip Lindsay, the Broncos’ second year Pro Bowl running back. “One hundred percent.’’
Lindsay suffered a serious right wrist injury in the Broncos’ Christmas Eve loss at Oakland last year. He missed the final game of what was still a 1,000-yard rushing season, had surgery and missed both the Pro Bowl in January and the Broncos’ offseason team drills in May and June.
He is healthy enough to start practicing when the Broncos open training camp Thursday, but it will be Broncos’ head coach Vic Fangio, running backs coach Curtis Modkins and the team’s medical staff who will determine whether Lindsay gets one or two reps a series or three or four.
“It’s a long season," Lindsay said. “I’d rather go 16, 17, 18, 20 games than go four (preseason) games. It all depends on what coach Fangio and all them feel like I should be doing right now.”
Lindsay addressed the media on a hot Monday morning as he was hosting his first-ever free Pro Star football camp for kids in grades 1 through 8. The camp was held at Evie Garrett Dennis school.
“I wanted to host a free camp here in my neighborhood because I feel like it’s a chance to give back to the kids," said Lindsay, who played at Denver South High School. “I was in their shoes. A lot of kids don’t have the money to come out here so that’s big.’’
As Lindsay held tight to his godson Markel, he was asked if this will be a breakout season for the Broncos’ offense.
“It’s about being healthy. We’ve got the tools,’’ Lindsay said. “We’re ready. There’s no excuses. We do have a new offensive coordinator, more explosive plays. Now it comes down to us. And us helping (new quarterback Joe) Flacco out. Protecting Flacco.
“It’s us doing our assignments right. It’s me making more big plays. It’s Royce (Freeman) making big plays. It’s (Devontae) Booker making big plays. And it’s Courtland (Sutton) and Emmanuel (Sanders) and DaeSean (Hamilton) and Tim (Patrick), and all them have to put it on them.
“Our defense is going to do their job. That’s not going to be the problem. It’s going to be us coming together as an offense and helping our defense out."
