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ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- **Returning to the practice field with his right hand in a cast less than two weeks after having surgery has been anything but a picnic for cornerback Kayvon Webster.
The rookie cornerback, however, is back on the field and hard at work to get back to contributing on defense.
"It's been very difficult for me but I'm getting through it – coming out to practice and planning to play," Webster said after practice on Thursday.
Webster, who fractured his thumb during the Broncos' Week 15 game against the Chargers on Dec. 12, noted that only being able to use one of his hands is something he's conscious of on the field – but something he is also growing more comfortable with.
"You know, during practice those are things that are going through my head," he said. "Once practice progresses, I'm pretty much cool with it. It's just getting me better, getting my feet together, giving me another to element."
Webster noted that he didn't initially realize his thumb was broken when the injury happened, as he instead stayed on the field and continued to play.
"It was something I realized later," he said. "I was just playing in the game and I came to the sideline, tried to take my glove off and I noticed my hand was pretty much swollen. They told me to look at it after the game and after the game they said it was broken."
Webster noted that he has gotten used to using only his left hand as a result of the surgery that the cornerback underwent the day after the Chargers game.
"I got six screws, five pins in it, nine stitches – you know, the basics," Webster said with a chuckle.
"It's not really painful right now, it's just different," he added. "I've never had a cast before. I've never had surgery before for that matter. It's just different going through that whole process."
Defensive Coordinator Jack Del Rio noted that Webster's availability will be dependent upon how well the cornerback adjusts to playing with his unfamiliar appendage.
"He's going to have to get used to playing in that cast," Del Rio said. "That's what it will be. He's going to be in that thing for the duration of this season I believe. How he acclimates himself with that thing and being able to play with that will determine how much we can use."
Regardless of when it is that Webster is able to rejoin the defense, one thing was unmistakably clear to Del Rio about his cornerback's character after the San Diego game.
"Tough kid, I think he loves to play and wanted to be there for his teammates and fought through – clearly had to be painful," Del Rio said. "So you admire that when you see that. There are a lot of different aches and pains and things and you try to separate injury from just the pain you're feeling and I think he played right through that thing and didn't realize that he was actually injured and they had to fix it."
"Courageous, good to see, good young, tough player," he added. "He's got a bright future for us and he'll be a good player."
