There goes the box office attraction.
Christian McCaffrey, the local boy does great who plays for the Carolina Panthers, suffered a quad injury while training to return from a shoulder injury and his coach doesn’t think his star running back will play Sunday against the Broncos.
Carolina Panthers head coach Matt Rhule said Thursday of McCaffrey, “I do not expect him to play.”
There goes the main attraction to an otherwise uninspired matchup of 4-8 teams. McCaffrey is the third of four sons raised by former Broncos receiver standout Ed McCaffrey and his wife Lisa. Christian McCaffrey starred at Valor Christian High School in Highlands Ranch and Stanford in Palo Alto before becoming the No. 8 overall pick of the Panthers in the 2017 draft.
McCaffrey said he had only missed one game in his life – which was when he skipped Stanford’s bowl game to avoid risk of injury as he was about to enter the draft – until this season. After becoming just the third player in NFL history to pull off 1,000-yard rushing and 1,000-yard receiving season in 2019, McCaffrey signed a record contract extension of $16 million per year, only to then miss six games this year with a high ankle sprain and another three games with a separated shoulder. It now appears he will miss a 10th game with a quad injury.
With no McCaffrey, Broncos Country will again resort to, ‘What will Drew do?’ as the primary reason to pay attention when 4-8 Denver visits 4-8 Carolina at Bank of America Stadium (kickoff at 11 a.m. MT).
Zoom hijack
Former Broncos safety Darian Steward, a starter in the famed No Fly Zone secondary for the even greater renowned 2015 Denver defense that was responsible for the Super Bowl 50 title, announced his retirement Thursday after 10 seasons.
The Broncos arranged not only for a Zoom media conference to honor Stewart, but had fellow secondary members Aqib Talib, T.J. Ward and Bradley Roby drop in. Chris Harris Jr. was practicing with the Chargers and couldn't attend.
Here was the exchange between Talib and Stewart:
Talib: “Stew, what’s up, baby?’’
Stewart: My man, what’s going on?
Talib: “Hey we’re reporting live from Dallas, baby!’
Stewart: Hey, yes sir.
Talib: "Hey, congrats. One of my all-time favorite teammates, man. The way you played the game. I really admired that and you already know that, I told you that plenty of times. My question: What makes you play like that? What lit that fire under you? I’ve seen you from South Carolina to the Rams to the Broncos. You play a certain way? I need my kids to hear it. What makes you play that way?”
Stewart: I always knew that if I second guess anything on that field from making a tackle – because I always wanted to let them feel me any time I came into a tackle. So I always tried to go for the big hit. You don’t always get that but for me it was to not even think twice, man. If you’re going to do it, go do it, you feel me because that’s how you end up getting hurt.
Bronco Bits
- Returner Diontae Spencer was designated to return from the COVID list to the active roster Thursday. Spencer missed the past two games with the virus. …
- Tyrie Cleveland, Spencer’s replacement at kick returner, left practice Thursday after feeling sick. …
- Right guard Graham Glasgow again missed practice with a foot/toe injury. …
- Tight end Jake Butt, who missed the previous seven games with a hamstring injury, was designated to return from injured reserve to practice. …
- Kyle Shurmur, son of Broncos’ offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur, was brought in for COVID testing and a visit last week as an emergency last week but when the other quarterbacks cleared their close contact concerns, Kyle Shurmur was not signed. He remains in the Denver area just in case.
“Yeah, he’s kind of gotten stashed away somewhere, but as I mentioned he’s in graduate school, so he’s taking his finals and keeping track of things here,’’ Pat Shurmur said. “Living in Denver is just like living in Nashville (when it comes to taking virtual classes), so that’s where he’s at. I actually haven’t seen him just because of the protocol stuff.’’
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