ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — The Broncos have officially placed OLB Von Miller on injured reserve, the team announced Tuesday.
Miller suffered an ankle injury during practice on Sept. 8 and underwent surgery on Sept. 11.
There is a chance that Miller could be out for the entire 2020 season, but Head Coach Vic Fangio said Sept. 9 that "it's too early to say for sure."
Miller is eligible to be activated later in the year, should he recover from surgery in time to return. In a video posted by the Broncos, Miller suggested he hoped to return this season.
Speaking about Miller's injury last week, Fangio expressed his disappointment for the eight-time Pro Bowler but stressed the need for the Broncos to move forward.
"I was sad when it happened for a lot of reasons, mainly for Von," Fangio said. "Von has had a hell of an offseason. I kind of reiterated that to you guys many times. I didn't see him in the offseason, but I talked to him a number of times in the offseason. When you don't see someone with your own eyes, you're hesitant to believe or buy in, but I could just tell by the way we were talking and the things he was doing, that he had the mindset that he was going to come out and have a hell of a season. When we finally did get back together, it was true. I'm sad that he's not going to be able to get the season that he worked for, because it would have been fun to watch for me, for him, for you and for everybody.
"On a personal basis as it relates to Von, everybody is sad and disappointed for him. As it relates to our team, we're disappointed. Anytime you lose anybody, you're disappointed. But we will move on and we will make it work. We lost Bradley last year, an equal player at the same position and we played our best football after that. That's not because we didn't have Bradley. We just kept developing as a team and we compensated for it. We have a better team this year overall, so I expect us to still be a good team without Von."
Bradley Chubb, Jeremiah Attaochu and Malik Reed are now the Broncos' outside linebackers on the active roster. Denver elevated Derrek Tuszka from the practice squad to the active roster for game day, but Tuszka did not play a defensive snap and will revert to the practice squad.
Denver tallied one sack in its Week 1 loss to the Titans.
