ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Tight end Jeff Heuerman broke three ribs and suffered a bruised lung against the Steelers and will miss the remainder of the season, Head Coach Vance Joseph announced.
"Obviously, Heuerman's a big loss," Joseph said Monday. "We've lost three guys in that room so far with [Jake Butt], [Troy] Fumagalli and now Jeff. He's had a great year, he's a great leader for that room, so he'll be missed. But we've got some guys that we feel good about in [Matt] LaCosse — he's playing good football — and [Brian] Parker. It's next man up. We've got to move on."
Practice-squad tight end Temarrick Hemingway could be one option to fill Heuerman's spot on the roster.
"We'll see," Joseph said. "We've got some options there. John's researching it right now, trying to find the best option for our football team. We'll see what happens later in the week. He's definitely an option."
Outside linebacker Shaquil Barrett will also miss time after suffering an injury to his hip flexor. Joseph said he would be week to week.
"Shane Ray's next up, so he's going to be the third rusher," Joseph said. "We'll see how the game goes, but we'll have three guys for that position on game day. We've got DeMarcus Walker also who plays some end for us on our sub downs. So we've got some options there. But obviously Shaq's playing good football. He played, in my opinion, the best yesterday out of all the rushers. So he's going to be missed, especially on special teams."
Tramaine Brock has a bruised rib and will be day to day as the Broncos prepare for Cincinnati.
