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Denver Broncos Head Coach Nathaniel Hackett told reporters today that veteran Cam Fleming will get his second straight start at right tackle for them this weekend against the Houston Texans. Additionally, Hackett said that veteran Billy Turner could possibly be active this Sunday, but as a backup instead of a starter for them.
Nathaniel Hackett said he expects Cam Fleming to start again this weekend at right tackle.
— Aric DiLalla (@AricDiLalla) September 15, 2022
It’s possible that Billy Turner could dress and serve as the backup.
Fleming was signed by the Broncos in late July and was viewed as a depth addition at the time. Throughout the offseason, veteran Billy Turner who played right tackle for the Green Bay Packers under Nathaniel Hackett seemed like the starting right tackle for the Broncos. However, he was sidelined by a knee injury, and tackle Calvin Anderon was getting the right tackle reps. That changed as the Broncos progressed throughout camp and into the preseason. Fleming appeared to surpass Anderson and made the Broncos' 53-man roster and was listed as the backup right tackle.
Then, come week one. veteran Billy Turner wasn’t ready to play yet and Fleming was given the starting right tackle job for that game. He played well all things considered and has earned himself a second straight start for the Broncos this weekend.
Earlier this week, Head Coach Nathaniel Hackett was asked about the decision to start Fleming at right tackle vs. Seattle. He told reporters that he thought that Fleming did a “really good job” despite joining the team fairly late into the process.
“When he got here, we kind of throw him into the mix. He got here later than the other guys, and I thought he was really consistent. I thought he did a really good job at right tackle. As a whole, I think it went pretty well. We ran the ball well, we protected pretty well. Obviously, the noise for a first game and everybody together contributed to some of those false starts and some of the delay games and things like that with those guys. But besides that, all in all as a group, I thought they did a pretty good job.”
I didn’t see Fleming stand out in any bad way during the game and the Broncos' run game was getting push throughout the game as well. So, hopefully, Fleming can string together another solid game for the Broncos and potentially keep this job throughout the season.
As for Turner, this isn’t the most exciting development for him. He has been working his way back from a knee injury all offseason and summer and had to miss week one because of it. He did practice in full on Wednesday, but it sounds like he may not be fully ready just yet. He doesn’t sound like a surefire-go for Sunday and would serve as the backup even if he was active.
Turner has been a versatile player throughout his career, so it wouldn’t be awful if he ended up being a swing tackle/guard for them this season. Especially if Fleming was able to play a solid right tackle for the Broncos.
It will be interesting to see how this all plays out, but first, Turner needs to get that knee right and fully healthy before he steps on the football field. Hopefully, that happens sooner rather than later, but in the meantime, hopefully, Fleming can continue to play some solid tackle for the Broncos.
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