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Denver Broncos | News

Jake Butt gets day off from practice after 'expected' soreness

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Tight end Jake Butt, who appeared in his first game action since tearing his ACL last season, got an extra day off on Monday.

Butt, who took 11 snaps against the Rams in LA, did not participate as the Broncos prepared for their final preseason game.

"He came out good after the game," Head Coach Vic Fangio said Monday. "Just a little sore right now. He's had some residual effects, which I think is to be expected to a degree. He got 11 or 12 plays the other night at a full-speed tempo, which I don't think he had practice more than 20 plays in the couple of days he had practiced. I was expecting some that.

"We probably won't see him practice today, give him an extra day off. Normally after a game you get two days off — although they're here — but you don't hit the field. We're going to give him that day right now."

Tight end Jeff Heuerman (shoulder), guard Ron Leary (knee) and cornerback Bryce Callahan (foot) — who have sat out several practices and were among the starters who didn't play against LA — were all back at practice Monday.

Fangio said Leary is trending toward being ready for Week 1 against the Raiders.

"He's been improving with some of this time off that he's been getting," Fangio said. "I think he'll be ready."

Linebacker Todd Davis, meanwhile, will not practice this week. The starting linebacker suffered a calf injury during the team's first training camp practice.

"He's progressing, but not at the rate we had hoped," Fangio said.

Quarterback Drew Lock (thumb), running back Theo Riddick (shoulder), fullback Andy Janovich (pectoral), linebacker Joe Jones (upper arm) and linebacker Joe Dineen (hand) also did not practice.

Safety Dymonte Thomas also did not appear to be at practice.

UP IN THE AIR

The Broncos are just two weeks away from their regular-season opener, but the backup quarterback role does not appear set.

Fangio said Monday he wants to see "some separation" between Kevin Hogan and Brett Rypien, who are both competing for the backup quarterback role as Lock recovers.

"We've got one more game to do that," said Fangio when asked if he's seen enough to declare one of the players as the backup. "That remains to be seen. I've seen some good play. I've seen some not so good, so I don't know the answer to that just yet."

Fangio said it is "always an option" to bring a veteran quarterback in, but he acknowledged that "there's not a lot of them available."

Lock took second-team reps against the 49ers on Aug. 19 before suffering a thumb injury. Fangio said last week that Lock "was tracking toward" the backup role before getting hurt.

A SUDDEN RETIREMENT

For much of the last several decades, Fangio has been entrenched in the NFL. But in 2010, the veteran coach spent a year as Stanford's defensive coordinator. During that season, Fangio crossed paths with former Cardinal player Andrew Luck.

"I knew him well, know him well," Fangio said. "I've seen him a few times since then, ran into him once in Italy of all places. He's walking down the street that way, I'm walking this way and we ran into each other. I know him well."

The 29-year-old quarterback announced his retirement from the NFL on Saturday.

"Obviously like everybody else [I was] surprised, but Andrew's a guy of a lot of conviction," Fangio said. "If he doesn't feel that he can do it the right way and it's not going the way he wants, he'll react the way he did and he'll retire. I can tell you this, he didn't do it in a harsh, quick way. I'm sure he gave it a lot of thought."

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