ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Inside linebacker Todd Davis, who was carted off the field almost a week ago with a calf injury, has made "great strides" in the past few days and could be back "well before the week of the opener," Head Coach Vic Fangio said Tuesday. Davis was able to participate in the stretching period before Tuesday's practice before observing the rest of it from the sideline.
"I have a good feeling that he'll be healthy in time and ready to roll," Fangio said. "He's made great strides here in the last couple days. A calf injury is a serious injury. It's not one that you hear a lot about because they're not as common as hamstrings, but they're every bit as difficult to recover from. His isn't as bad as the one he had last year, which is good, but it still is a calf injury, and he's going to be limited for a while. But I'm hopeful he'll be back practicing at some point well before the week of the opener."
Davis suffered a more serious injury to his other calf at the beginning of training camp in 2019. He missed the rest of camp and returned during the regular season ahead of the Broncos' Week 3 game against Green Bay.
On Tuesday, the Broncos did not have to add any new names to the injury report, as they continued to be cautious with the nearly dozen players who missed the 10th training camp practice.
Safety Alijah Holder (soft tissue), cornerback De'Vante Bausby (soft tissue), outside linebacker Malik Carney (sick, not COVID-related), wide receiver Tim Patrick (soft tissue) and nose tackle Mike Purcell (calf) missed a second consecutive practice on Tuesday.
Holder, Bausby, Patrick and Purcell all worked with trainers on a side field during practice, along with receivers KJ Hamler (hamstring) and Juwann Winfree (groin) and cornerback Michael Ojemudia (quad), who have been sidelined longer than the others.
"They're all the same as yesterday," Fangio said after practice. "They're day to day. I think there's a pretty good chance, better than 50-50, that some of those guys will be out there on Thursday."
Fangio said Patrick and Bausby have a "good chance" to be ready by Thursday, while Purcell was "50-50." But he said Ojemudia and Hamler are on a longer time table.
"You can refrain from asking me about those two for a while — Hamler longer than Ojemudia," Fangio said.
Fangio said on Sunday that Ojemudia will "be out probably at least a week" and on Aug. 20, he said Hamler will "be on the shelf for a couple weeks."
After the outbreak of soft-tissue injuries forced Fangio to alter Monday's scheduled practice schedule to conduct lighter work without pads, Fangio returned the team to full pads on Tuesday, though he still had to make adjustments.
"It was a training camp practice, just a little shorter than originally would have been planned, because we're down to about 65 guys working," Fangio said.
For Von Miller and Melvin Gordon III, who missed a couple of practices last week with elbow and rib injuries, respectively, Tuesday's practice was their first 11-on-11 team periods in full pads since returning to practice.
Tight end Austin Fort, who has missed all of camp with a knee injury, was also out Tuesday, as was linebacker Justin Strnad, who underwent wrist surgery that will force him to miss the entire 2020 season.
