Did the Broncos rush Greg Dulcich back too soon?
Oct 16, 2023, 6:20 PM
By the second half last Thursday, Greg Dulcich stood on the Broncos sideline at Arrowhead Stadium, hands inside of his jersey collar, wind rustling through his curly, shoulder-length locks, appearing to be in a state of contemplation.
It was not where Dulcich wanted or expected to be when his return to the lineup began. It ended after just 11 snaps.
The Broncos activated Dulcich following a four-game stint on injured reserve due to a hamstring injury. It was his fourth hamstring injury in an 18-month NFL career — and his third stint on injured reserve.
The frequency of the hamstring injuries — and the speed at which he aggravated it and again returned to the sideline — spurred this question: Did the Broncos rush to get Greg Dulcich back onto the field?
Broncos coach Sean Payton said Monday that wasn’t the case.
‘We went through the protocols, and we felt like we were pretty patient,” Payton said Monday. “You rely on the athlete; you rely on the medical team and the experts. You go through the recovery and the rehab. You spend a lot of time really testing before you ever go out into game conditions.
“It’s easy to look back on that and say, ‘Hey, was it too soon?’”
Payton said that the four weeks of rehabilitation and the information the Broncos had left them “confident” that Dulcich could hold up. But after that experience, one could understand if the Broncos opt for caution as the second-year tight end deals with a fifth hamstring issue.
Wide receiver Jerry Jeudy, for example, did not have a history of hamstring injuries when he succumbed during the Broncos’ joint practice against the Los Angeles Rams in August. He didn’t make his regular-season debut until three-and-a-half weeks later, missing the preseason finale and the regular-season opener in the process.
Payton did not offer an indication as to whether the Broncos would place Dulcich on injured reserve once agsain.
“We regroup with him right now and get him quickly up to speed to recover and we go from there,” Payton said. “It’s unfortunate because I know he’s frustrated. It’s been a recurring issue for him, specifically with the hamstrings.”
And despite Dulcich’s productivity when he plays, his career will be defined by hamstring problems until he can prove otherwise.
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