Neck injury sidelines Broncos DE Derek Wolfe for remainder of 2017
Dec 5, 2017, 3:42 PM | Updated: Dec 6, 2017, 12:05 am
After dealing with a neck injury for the last three week, Denver Broncos Derek Wolfe will miss the remainder of the 2017, the club announced on Tuesday.
Wolfe missed Sunday’s matchup on the road against the Miami Dolphins after leaving early in the game the week prior against the Oakland Raiders.
In an interview with Sports Radio 104.3 The Fan last week, Wolfe said he first started having issues during the Broncos Week 11 tilt against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Wolfe told Big Al and DMac that he was hit in the back of the head on the first play of the game and his right arm went completely numb.
“I had no feeling in my right hand most of the week,” Wolfe said of the following week of practice after grinding through the injury against the Bengals.
Against Oakland the following week, Wolfe left the field after just two plays and needed to be carted to the locker room.
Wolfe did not travel with the team to Miami.
“When it’s a neck, it’s serious. It’s his life,” head coach Vance Joseph said on Thursday before ruling him out the following day.
In 2013, Wolfe suffered two serious incidents involving his spine that landed him in the hospital.
The first happened during a preseason game against the Seattle Seahawks in which he suffered a spinal cord contusion after taking a hit. He fell limp to the turf and was taken off via stretcher then ambulance to an area hospital.
Wolfe was cleared to play by the regular season opener, but then the defensive lineman suffered another incident in which he collapsed on a team bus headed for Denver International Airport in November.
The incident landed him in the ICU and a 26-hour medically induced coma.
“The last time this was happening, I just kept going. And it put me in the ICU and almost killed me,” Wolfe said last week. “So, to me, it’s like, I’m not going to let it go on for 12 weeks or for the rest of the season.”
“… I’m ready to get this thing fixed up and worry about my future.”
Wolfe started all 11 games he played in during 2017, grabbing 31 tackles and two sacks.
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