ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — There are four games left in the Broncos’ season. They were officially eliminated from playoff contention three days ago. They clinched their sixth-consecutive losing season 10 days earlier.
So, why, then, is it so important for Randy Gregory to play in these final four games? Why wouldn’t they shut him down in the wake of his October knee scope and focus on getting him ready for the 2023 season?
“I’ve shut it down enough,” Gregory said in the locker room Wednesday. “I’ve missed a lot of time. I’m to the point now where I want to help where I can.
“I understand the landscape, the situation that we’re in as a unit. But I think it’s important to go out there and kind of end the season on a good note.”
Leaving with a sweet taste would do much for not only the Broncos, but Gregory himself. The team designated the edge rusher for return from injured reserve Wednesday. That starts the clock on his potential activation after spending the last 10 games on injured reserve.
Returning earlier “wasn’t possible” based on the knee injury itself and the rehabilitation process, Gregory noted.
“I wish it [returning] would have happened earlier,” Gregory said. “I’ve been through this injury before, and every single one has been a little bit different than the last. What I’ll say — without saying too much — is that it was a little bit different than the last one that I had a couple of years ago.
“And so, with that, coupled with me being a little bit older, it takes a little bit more time to get back. It’s important for me to get back and to get back the right way and be healthy and be the player I know I can be.”
Randy Gregory goes through individual work at Broncos practice: pic.twitter.com/gZSgK6GvnC
— Andrew Mason (@MaseDenver) December 14, 2022
But first, he must take the steps to get there.
And that’s why it’s best that he do them now rather than later. Effectively, Gregory has four weeks to work his way back up to full-tilt participation by the end of the season. If he can do that, he will have overcome the biggest mental and physical hurdles in his recovery.
“I had talked to a doctor and she told me, ‘Go back to the scene of the crime.’ With injuries, I feel like that’s something you don’t do a lot of times. You do little workouts, exercise, therapy to kind of strengthen it and get the mobility and stuff like that.
“”But actually going out there and doing the actual move that you injured it on, you don’t do that a lot. So, a big part of it was me being able to go out there and feel confident in making football-specific moves and not feeling like I need to take an extra step or not feeling like I can’t put my knee down the right way. And that’s a big part of getting back in a timely matter. I don’t feel like I was able to do that.”
Now, he feels like he can.
“It’s not, obviously, the best timing or what I wanted,” he said. “But the main thing is to get back out there, get my feet wet again, make some plays and try to lead the defense the way I know I can.”
But that won’t happen in one day.
Gregory wants to play Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals. However …
“There’s still a few steps I need to take to get to that point,” he said. “Day-to-day. I feel like I did real well today. It was a jog-through, it wasn’t a lot. But I made it through individual [work]– that was a big deal for me, being able to get through that.
“I feel warmed up, and good enough to go through team period. From here, it’s just getting more reps in team, and hopefully being able to go out there and play this weekend.”
But just how much is a question. In the three games he played before he injured his knee in Week 4, his playing-time percentage increased each time — from 47 percent in Week 1 at Seattle to 68 percent in Week 2 and 71 percent in the Week 3 win over the San Francisco 49ers.
“I think it would be silly to say I’m going to play a full game right now,” Gregory said. “But obviously, the intention is to do that.
“And so, we’ll take it day-by-day, week-by-week, see how [the knee] feels going into the game, see how it feels pregame, and see how long it holds up actually in action.”
And if he can reach the point by Week 18 where he’s back to where he was before the injury, he can charge into 2023 unburdened by the injury — and with confidence that a full offseason can set him up to be the player in whom the Broncos invested $28 million guaranteed.
The next four weeks give the Broncos a chance to gauge Gregory’s health. They also provide a chance for him to take some crucial steps in his recovery. And with a clean bill of health, it’s better to make those now, rather than wait several months to find out.
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