Broncos punter Sam Martin somehow got hurt during pregame warmups

Well, you don’t hear this every day.

Denver Broncos punter Sam Martin injured himself during pregame warmups before the team’s second preseason contest against the Buffalo Bills.

How exactly Martin got hurt is unclear, but our own Andrew Mason had the news first. A Bills reporter added some interesting context.

Don’t see Sam Martin out there. He had some warm-up punts about an hour ago, but looked a bit uncomfortable after one of them. Punted once more, then headed back to the locker room while other teammates took the field for their pre-game work.

— Andrew Mason (@MaseDenver) August 20, 2022

I was near the corner of the end zone when I saw Martin throwing the ball with kicker Brandon McManus. Martin reached back for the ball then suddenly appeared to injure himself. He walked over to the bench, grabbed his gloves and had a pretty noticeable limp into the locker room. https://t.co/1fxyv9LzU9

— Sal Capaccio 🏈 (@SalSports) August 20, 2022

The Broncos have officially ruled Martin out for the game with an ankle injury, which means an opportunity for Corliss Waitman. It’s rare for a team to have a punter battle this late in the preseason, but that’s exactly what the Broncos are still figuring out.

Waitman’s first punt went 41 yards, after averaging 37.5 yards per punt on two of them last week against the Cowboys. Martin had two punts for a combined 101 yards against the Cowboys. Waitman spent time briefly with the Steelers, Raiders and Patriots before joining the Broncos in January.

Martin was good for Denver in 2021, posting the third-best net average per punt (42.8 yards) and the fifth-most punts downed inside the 20-yard line with 28.

But whatever happened pregame in Buffalo could derail his plans for being Denver’s punter this season, with Waitman now having the inside track.

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