Report: Broncos center J.D. Walton could miss 2013 season following ankle surgery

Denver Broncos starting center J.D. Walton could miss the 2013 season following further ankle surgery he underwent this week, the Denver Post's Jeff Legwold reports.

#Broncos center J.D. Walton has had an additional surgery on his ankle this week. Is expected to miss season. A tough deal for him.

— Jeff Legwold (@Jeff_Legwold) June 19, 2013

He could be back 4-5 months from now, which would put him back in uniform by October/November, Legwold goes on to say.

#Broncos officials still have some optimism Walton could still be back, if all goes well in healing, by late October or early November.

— Jeff Legwold (@Jeff_Legwold) June 19, 2013

Walton suffered a season-ending ankle injury in Week 4 of the 2012 season, but was expected to be ready for training camp. In fact, it was only yesterday that DenverBroncos.com reiterated that, reporting Walton planned on being 100 percent. Today's news is a surprising, bizarre turn of events.

I expect this will re-spark the Broncos' interest in free agent Dan Koppen, who filled in for Walton admirably as Denver's starting center last year. Manny Ramirez has been playing first-team center in Walton's absence in offseason workouts, but other interesting in-house options include moving Chris Kuper or Philip Blake over to center.