ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Denver Broncos star outside linebacker Bradley Chubb gave playing despite ankle pain a shot.
But the ankle pain shot back.
Chubb will undergo arthroscopic surgery Wednesday morning to remove a troublesome bone spur in his left ankle, the Broncos announced via its website. The timeline on his recovery won’t be determined until after the procedure but Chubb is expected to be placed on short-term injured reserve.
Chubb had a scope procedure to remove bone spurs in his other ankle, the right in mid-May. He missed OTAs and the mandatory minicamp, then the Broncos took five weeks off before returning to training camp in late-July. Based on the recovery from his previous ankle procedure, a minimum of four weeks and possibly as much as 8 weeks can be expected.
Chubb missed the season opener against the New York Giants and was in-and-out of the lineup during the first half Sunday at Jacksonville before aggravating the ankle injury with a minute left in the half.
“It was during that 2-minute drive I tried to turn the corner and I felt it wasn’t all the way there,’’ Chubb told the team’s website. “I’ve been dealing with this bone spur I’ve got in my ankle and sometimes when I try to turn the corner it gets a little annoying and I feel like a stab-type pain.
“Did everything I could to manage it and try to come back and play. I took the New York (Giants) week down to try and calm it down a little bit and Jacksonville week I tried to do everything to get back on the field and unfortunately all those things weren’t working in my favor so the thing is now is to go in and get it cleaned up and be right back. It’s just a bone spur. They have to go in and scope it out and come out on the better side of this and feel like myself again.’’
The decision to have surgery was made after the Broncos’ medical consulted with Dr. Robert Anderson, the acclaimed foot and ankle specialist who now resides in Green Bay.
“These past couple years haven’t been going our way in the win column and I feel like we’re starting to change that, we’re starting to get over that hump and not being able to be there is going to be very frustrating,’’ Chubb said. “But I’m going to push everything I can to get back to these games and hopefully it’s sooner rather than later and my mindset is going to be to attack it 100 percent every day.’’
Chubb broke Von Miller’s team rookie record with 12 sacks in 2018, but suffered a season-ending torn ACL in game 4 of 2019. While he returned in 2020 and was named to the Pro Bowl after posting 7 ½ sacks through 14 games, he missed the final two games with his right ankle injury. Now it’s the left ankle that will keep him out. The Broncos will use Malik Reed, followed by rookies Jonathon Cooper and Andrew Mintze in place of Chubb with star Von Miller pass rushing from the other side.
“When this thing is healed up I expect to see a whole new Bradley Chubb,’’ Chubb said. “A whole new animal, a whole new dog. I feel like 2018 was my last full year healthy and I feel like when I get done with this it’s going to be 10 times that and I’m really excited to see everything come full circle.”
The Broncos' No. 5 overall draft pick in 2018, Chubb is making $4.37 million this year and is guaranteed to make $12.716 million next year after the team picked up his fifth-year option in early May.
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