SAN FRANCISCO — Jalen Virgil did all he could in an attempt to finish off his long catch-and-run into the end zone.
To the point he all but blew out his knee trying.
Virgil is headed for knee surgery to repair a torn meniscus, a source told 9NEWS, with his recovery time to be determined. Virgil will get a second medical opinion but surgery is the recommendation.
It’s another blow to the Broncos’ receiver depth, particularly in the speed department. Virgil, KJ Hamler and rookie Marvin Mims Jr. were the Broncos’ top receiver speed threats at the onset of training camp. Now, only Mims from that speed group remains, as Hamler was released with a heart condition early in camp.
The Broncos also lost front-line receiver Tim Patrick to a season-ending Achilles injury early in training camp. Patrick has already undergone surgery and Virgil is about to do the same. The good news is Virgil’s ACL is in intact, although meniscus tears can also bring lengthy recoveries. Broncos’ outside linebacker Baron Browning suffered a partially torn meniscus in mid-May and has yet to return three months later— and he may be down another one to three months.
Virgil suffered his knee injury on the last play of the first half Saturday night in the Broncos’ 21-20 preseason game against the San Francisco 49ers. With 25 seconds left in the half and the Broncos out of timeouts, backup quarterback Jarrett Stidham threw a nice deep ball down the left side to Virgil, whose sideline-and-go pattern badly deked a 49ers’ cornerback.
Virgil waited slightly for the pass, caught it at about the 22-yard line, cut in to split two defenders and was dragged down apparently just short of the goal line by 49ers’ safety Ji’Ayir Brown.
Virgil reached the ball across the goal line for an apparent touchdown and got up, waiting for the referee to signal touchdown. When he didn’t get the touchdown call, Virgil realized something was wrong with his knee and signaled to the bench for a replacement. The clock kept running as the ball was spotted at the 1 and it was ruled the first-half clock expired before Stidham could spike the ball to stop it— much to the anger of Broncos head coach Sean Payton, who thought there should have been a second left.
An undrafted rookie out of Appalachian State last year, Virgil was the biggest surprise to make the Broncos’ 53-man, season-opening roster in 2022. Inactive the first half of last season, Virgil started to play after the week nine bye and he had a 66-yard catch-and-run for a touchdown off a Russell Wilson pass in a loss at Tennessee. He added one more nine-yard catch the rest of the year but more was expected in year two.
Virgil raced for a 25-yard run off a fly sweep in the Broncos’ first preseason game at Arizona last week, and had the 50-yard catch in the second preseason game against the 49ers.
The Broncos’ receiver position is led by Jerry Jeudy, Courtland Sutton and Mims with Marquez Callaway appearing to be the odds-on favorite for the No. 4 receiver. The fifth and possibly sixth receiver spots figure to be a competition involving Brandon Johnson, Lil’Jordan Humphrey, Kendall Hinton and Montrell Washington.
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