The Denver Broncos squad is suffering on the field due to back-to-back injuries. K.J. Hamler was diagnosed with pericarditis and got waived from the team, and now, Tim Patrick is too out of the squad for the whole season as he reportedly suffered a torn left Achilles.
Patrick was signed by the Baltimore Ravens as an undrafted free agent in May 2017, albeit they waived him just a month later. He later joined the San Francisco 49ers one day later and unfortunately, it didn’t turn out to be a long journey as well. The Broncos inked the football star to their practice squad that year before releasing him less than a month later and signed him again to a reserve/future contract in 2018.
Broncos WR Tim Patrick suffers season-ending Achilles injury during practice
On Monday, Patrick went down with a non-contact injury during a 7-on-7 drill training camp while the Broncos team was on first padded practice. The WR was immediately carted to the locker room and he reportedly required crutches to get into the facility.
Update: #Broncos fear WR Tim Patrick suffered an Achilles injury, per Sean Payton.
Awful news if it's season ending like the torn ACL he suffered last year at camp. https://t.co/erErKTdesf pic.twitter.com/IW3VUC5yw2
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) July 31, 2023
The team’s head coach Sean Payton discussed the topic following practice saying he thought the veteran player just slipped, albeit later he realized it is going to be more acute. They feared an Achilles injury and it turned into true after an MRI for confirmation.
“He [was] fully cleared and fully healthy [from the ACL]… It just happened to be the other leg. I watched it happen, and it looked like he slipped. I thought initially he slipped. He stayed down and he kind of threw the ball, and I thought, ‘This may be more.'”
Tim will now miss the entire 2023 season. This is an extremely unpleasant situation for a player who also missed all of the 2022 season due to his torn ACL. The team was trying to bank on Mr. Dependable in orange and blue because of his phenomenal performance in 2020 and 2021 as he recorded 104 catches for 1,476 yards along with 11 touchdowns during those two seasons.
What is Tim Patrick contract with the Broncos?
The Broncos and Patrick agreed to a three-year, $30 million contract extension, with $18.5 million guaranteed in November 2021. According to Spotrac.com, he was set to have $1.535 million as a base salary for the first season which would jump to $8 million in 2023 and $9.5 million in 2024.
However, the veteran’s salary cap hit of $9.25 million would remain the same in the first two years and it would later jump up to $10.75 million in 2024.
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The 29-year-old agreed to restructure his contract in 2022 to convert his $6.95 million roster bonus into a signing bonus. The move decreased his cap hit for 2022 from $9.25M to $4.6M and the Broncos got $4.6M in cap space, albeit his cap hit would increase to $11.57M in 2023 as his $5.5M in base salary will become fully guaranteed this year.
With Patrick‘s injury, the Broncos have to rely on Brandon Johnson, Marquez Callaway, and Lil’Jordan Humphrey. Meanwhile, Tim’s bad luck saga would continue for another season.
