Broncos are aiming to have ILB Jonas Griffith back for Week 1

The Denver Broncos are looking like they might get good news on the Jonas Griffith injury front. Head coach Nathaniel Hackett revealed today that the coaching staff is ‘aiming’ to have Griffith ready to play by Week 1, which would be at the low end of the originally reported 4-6 weeks recovery time.

“We are definitely hoping for Jonas [Griffith] to be ready Week 1,” Hackett said on Wednesday. “That’s kind of our aiming point. We very much dodged a bullet on that one. But the linebackers, they have all done a good job. I think they are continually getting better and understanding the system. We have a couple of veterans there, and we have some young guys that have really improved. We want to take advantage of the guys we have right now.”

Griffith suffered a dislocated elbow on the second play of the first preseason game. That was a brutal blow to the Broncos’ starting inside linebacker group. Denver quickly signed veteran Joe Schobert after Griffith went down, but he looked pretty rough in the second preseason game and was released soon after.

Getting Griffith back into the starting lineup will be very important as Denver doesn’t really have a whole lot of starter-level depth behind he and Josey Jewell.

The Broncos will play on Monday Night Football in Week 1 on the road against the Seattle Seahawks. That is on September 12, 2022 and just 30 days from the day Griffith injured his elbow. If he is able to come back in time for that game it will represent a pretty speedy recovery. Which means he could be on a pitch count even if he does return. Either way its good news for Denver and their defense.