Both of the Denver Broncos’ starting guards — Dalton Risner and Graham Glasgow — missed practice Wednesday and they might both be in danger of missing Sunday’s game against the Baltimore Ravens.
If Risner and Glasgow are unable to play in Week 4, Denver will turn to a pair of inexperienced backups: Netane Muti (22) and Quinn Meinerz (22).
Muti is a second-year player who fell to the sixth round of last year’s draft because of his injury history at Fresno State. Muti is an early-round talent, though, and he’s started in the place of an injured Glasgow two times in his career so far.
“I’m a fan of his,” coach Vic Fangio said of Muti on Monday. “I think he’s an NFL player. He can go in there and play guard any time we want. If he has to play some this week, he’ll be ready.”
Meinerz is a rookie out of UW–Whitewater who was selected by the Broncos in the third round of April’s NFL draft.
“It’s been good,” Fangio said Monday when asked about Meinerz’s progress since training camp. “It’s been steady. If he has to play this week, getting all the reps in practice, he’ll be ready.”
It’s obviously never good to lose a pair of starting guards, but Denver has two promising young backups ready to step up if called on.
Leave a Reply