Irving to season ending IR

[VonDoom]

Per Twitter. Sucks. Was hoping we'd have him back for the playoffs

[Ravage!!!]

damn.....

[VonDoom]

We apparently picked up LB Todd Davis on waivers from the Saints

[Slick]

That's a bummer. Read on the Mane that the Broncos were awarded a LBer from the Saints practive squad. Todd Davis??

[VonDoom]

That's a bummer. Read on the Mane that the Broncos were awarded a LBer from the Saints practive squad. Todd Davis??

See above ;)

[Denver Native (Carol)]

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- The right knee injury that Nate Irving suffered late in the 43-21 loss at New England on Nov. 2 will end his season.

Thursday, the Broncos placed Irving on injured reserve, ending his season. The Broncos did not have the single recallable injured-reserve designation available to them, having used it on Danny Trevathan after his Week 6 leg injury.

It is a crushing blow to Irving, who played the best football of his four-year career this season after being installed as the starting middle linebacker. In the three games leading up to his injury, Irving saw more work in nickel sub packages next to Brandon Marshall because of his improved coverage ability and his strong tackling.
http://www.denverbroncos.com/news-and-blogs/article-1/Irving-placed-on-IR-Broncos-claim-ex-Saints-LB-Davis/4b7810cd-1a08-4dbc-8903-ab1cb018d56d
rest -

[Joel]

OUCH. Great example of why would've preferred to keep Trevathan on the full 52 and run a man short for a few weeks till he was healthy; we have (or HAD) good enough LB depth to withstand that, and the one and only return-designated IR spot would still have been there in the event we needed it, an event that's now materialized. All that said, I believe return-designation still requires a player sit out 8 weeks, so even if we'd been able to put Irving there the moment the NE game ended, the earliest we would've gotten him back would've been the start of the playoffs.

It's a real shame for Irving, whose career was already rocky and injury plagued, but this year seemed to be finding his feet and the starting Mike spot we drafted him for in the 3rd 4 years ago. I still really like Steven Johnson as the next man up there; anyone who can stuff Jamaal Charles at the goal line in a huge divisional game and snag picks over the middle in preseason is more than welcome on a team that hasn't had a solid all around Mike since Al Wilson retired nearly a decade ago. Maybe an all-WR LB duo of Steven Johnson and Brandon Marshall is just the thing till Trevathan returns.

Irving needed this season though, and not just for a golden shot at a championship: He's among the many Broncos in the last year of their rookie contracts and looking to get paid next season in the brief window between take-it-or-leave-it draft deals and over-the-hill veteran contracts, and this is the first season he's really stood out in a positive way. Now he'll head to the offseason bargaining table with nothing to offer us nor anyone else except a fresh ACL injury to go with several seasons of previous injuries and inconsistent play that kept him out of our starting lineup (playing Sam while Miller was suspended isn't "starting.")

[Slick]

See above ;)

Look at the time stamp on our posts. You're just lucky I have mexican internet, although I beat you by one minute on the Incognito story. :D

[VonDoom]

Look at the time stamp on our posts. You're just lucky I have mexican internet, although I beat you by one minute on the Incognito story. :D

Ha, I saw that yesterday. Today I was posting from my phone and I couldn't remember the LB's name, so I had to come out and go back in. Apparently you posted at that exact second :lol:

[Dzone]

That sucks. The dude has always ended up hurt. He is injury prone.He was playing really good too. This hurts

[tomjonesrocks]

Blows big time.

He got hurt at a really pointless moment in the game also.

[Cugel]

This is going to just kill his value in FA. I imagine that the Broncos will sign him to a cap-friendly 1 year deal. That way he can recover, prove his worth during the 2015 season and then get a big pay-day in 2016. He's just not going to get anything like the kind of contract he's really worth with his injury history. Not this off-season.

[tomjonesrocks]

Sounds like the Saints were Chad Mustard-ing this new LB Davis.

[HORSEPOWER 56]

That sucks. The dude has always ended up hurt. He is injury prone.He was playing really good too. This hurts

I feel bad for him because this wasn't an "injury prone" type of injury. It was friendly fire where he got hit in the knee by his own teammate trying to make a tackle.

[Denver Native (Carol)]

When Nate Irving wretched his right knee in the 43-21 loss the New England Patriots, concern outweighed hope. The Broncos wanted to keep Irving available, but knew it might not work out. Friday, coach John Fox explained the decision to place the middle linebacker on season-ending injured reserve as the Broncos added linebacker Todd Davis to their practice squad.

"It was a consideration the whole time. It became more evident after swelling went down that was the best way to pursue it going forward," Fox said of Irving, who suffered a partially torn medial collateral ligament. "We wish all the best in his rehab as he prepares for surgery."

Davis, plucked off waivers from the New Orleans Saints, will join the Broncos in St. Louis.

rest - http://www.denverpost.com/broncos/ci_26939227/john-fox-explains-why-broncos-placed-nate-irving

[Joel]

This is going to just kill his value in FA. I imagine that the Broncos will sign him to a cap-friendly 1 year deal. That way he can recover, prove his worth during the 2015 season and then get a big pay-day in 2016. He's just not going to get anything like the kind of contract he's really worth with his injury history. Not this off-season.
Pretty much my read, if by "cap-friendly" you mean "NFL minimum." What I'm seeing online says minimum for players with 4-6 years experience will be $745,000 next year. Also, if it WERE a 1 year deal and had no bonus, we could use the vet discount rule to pay him that much but only get our cap charged for a second year players minimum of $585,000: http://www.spotrac.com/blog/nfl-minimum-salaries-veteran-discounts/

That's probably the best deal for him, too, because any long term deal he could get after showing so little on the field wouldn't be much, so would pretty much kill any hope he'd EVER get a big payday. A 1 year "prove it" deal—from us or whomever—is his only real hope of building a resume big enough to command top dollar before his odometer gets so high no one's willing to pay it.