Broncos lose yet another wide receiver to a knee injury

For a moment it looked like Jalen Virgil may have made the most of an opportunity caused by an injury.

The Denver Broncos lost Tim Patrick for the season, which gave the second-year wideout Virgil a chance. Appalachian State University product played in nine games as an undrafted rookie last year but mostly featured on special teams. Virgil wound up with five targets later into the season and took one of his two catches for a 66-yard touchdown.

That big-play ability showed out late in the first half as Jarrett Stidham hit Virgil in the two-minute drill for a 50-yard pass to get to the 49ers 1-yard line. Sadly as Virgil fought to get into the end zone, he hurt his knee. The ensuing struggle may have caused the Broncos a delay on their next play which was a too-late-spike by Stidham, ending Denver’s drive at the one with halftime being called.

An absolutely filthy route by @jayvirg81 💨

📱: Stream #DENvsSF on #NFLPlus https://t.co/L9mPiySUki pic.twitter.com/1rfMI8ndES

— NFL (@NFL) August 20, 2023

Here is final play of first half. #Broncos #Denver7 pic.twitter.com/05FwBs4tSg

— Troy Renck (@TroyRenck) August 20, 2023

That knee injury will cost Virgil at least the rest of this second preseason game for the Broncos, as the team ruled him done for the remainder of the contest.

Virgil’s injury comes after the aforementioned injury to Patrick and another injury to KJ Hamler which currently has him away from the team. Denver still has their two top targets available in Courtland Sutton and Jerry Jeudy but Russell’s depth in his targets is starting to eat away ahead of a critical season for the quarterback.

The Broncos led the defensive struggle 6-3 at halftime, coming off a heartbreaking loss to the Cardinals in Week 1 of the preseason.

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