Todd Davis suffered partially torn calf

Day 1 of Denver Broncos training camp is that time where optimism flies like a Drew Lock deep bomb. At least until these kind of tweets start flying:

I’ve said before that Todd Davis is one of the more irreplaceable players on the Broncos defense. He’s a solid starting inside linebacker, a strong run stopper and the Fangio system should put him in better positions against the pass.

He’s also the lone true veteran inside, so if he’s out for an extended period of time, the loss could hurt. Bradley Chubb mentioned how important he is from a leadership standpoint after practice.

“Todd, I feel like he is one of the most vocal leaders on this team, not just the defense. He is one of those guys that—sometimes last year in the game I’m like, ‘Hey Todd, what I got right here?’ And he just always knows what he’s doing, always reliable, always making the right calls and he’s a huge part of the defense.”

With Todd Davis forced to miss an extended period of time it will put pressure on Josey Jewell to build on a rookie season where he played 42% of the defensive snaps. The optimistic view is that it should give Vic Fangio and the Broncos coaching staff time to evaluate the rest of the linebacker depth.

I’ve mentioned before how Joe Jones is one I’m intrigued by. Alexander Johnson also made a good play in camp today. The two played a combined 43 snaps on defense in 2018. One other name to keep an eye on going forward is rookie Justin Hollins. Broncos insider Andrew Mason mentioned in his report from practice that the 2019 5th round pick played a majority of his reps inside today.