Chris Harris Jr. aims to rejoin Broncos in 2018 after fracturing leg

How long Chris Harris Jr will be out with a fractured fibula is unknown, but the Denver Broncos cornerback expects to return this season if possible.

Harris, who suffered the injury midway in the first quarter of the Broncos 24-10 win over the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday, said he thinks he’ll probably be out “like a month” and that he’ll “be back.”

“If we make the playoffs, I know I’ll be ready for that,” Harris said.

After the game, head coach Vance Joseph said the team will need more time to evaluate the injury and he was unsure if Harris will need surgery or if he’ll be out of the season.

“Chris is one of our leaders. He’s one of our better players, and when you lose those types of people, obviously you don’t gain anything. You lose something,” Joseph said. “As you know, we’ve lost three players already this season who were leaders on our interior offensive line, and we haven’t flinched. We won’t flinch now.”

With veteran Tremaine Brock out for the game, the Broncos were down to just three cornerbacks against the Bengals — Bradley Roby, second-year pro Brendan Langley, and rookie Isaac Yiadom.

Sports Radio 104.3 The Fan host Orlando Franklin on Sunday that with the injury to Harris that Denver may want to invest in bringing back veteran Adam “Pacman” Jones unless the club feels strongly about Langley and Yiadom.

“You’re going to find out a lot about these young guys,” Franklin said.

Broncos linebacker Von Miller called Harris’ injury a “huge one” but said Denver needs to believe in a “next man up” mentality.

“We’ve got a lot of great rookies here. So we’re going to have to keep playing well to keep us on our way to where we’re going,” Miller said.

Follow digital content producer Johnny Hart on Twitter: @JohnnyHart7.