{"id":351541,"date":"2025-12-16T06:10:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T06:10:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/351541\/"},"modified":"2025-12-16T06:10:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T06:10:08","slug":"broncos-defense-takes-hit-with-safety-brandon-jones-put-on-ir","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/351541\/","title":{"rendered":"Broncos defense takes hit with safety Brandon Jones put on IR"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Jeff LegwoldDec 15, 2025, 06:09 PM ET<\/p>\n

Close<\/a>Jeff Legwold covers the Denver Broncos at ESPN. He has covered the Broncos for more than 20 years and also assists with NFL draft coverage, joining ESPN in 2013. He has been a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Board of Selectors since 1999, too. Jeff previously covered the Pittsburgh Steelers, Buffalo Bills and Houston Oilers\/Tennessee Titans at previous stops prior to ESPN.<\/p>\n

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — The Denver Broncos<\/a> placed safety Brandon Jones<\/a> on injured reserve Monday with a pectoral injury.<\/p>\n

It is a significant loss for the one of the league’s best defenses given Jones was the team’s third-leading tackler (78 tackles) and had played 93% of the defensive snaps this season. Jones left Sunday’s 34-26 victory over the Green Bay Packers<\/a> in the second half and did not return.<\/p>\n

He is the second starter in the Broncos’ secondary who will have missed time with a chest injury. Star cornerback Pat Surtain II<\/a> missed three games earlier this season with a pectoral injury. Surtain has played in the past three games with a brace on his left arm and shoulder.<\/p>\n

It is unknown if Jones will need surgery to repair the injury, but at minimum he will miss the Broncos’ final three games of the regular season and a playoff game.<\/p>\n

Editor’s Picks<\/a><\/p>\n

P.J. Locke<\/a> played in Jones’ spot when Jones left Sunday’s game and coach Sean Payton said Monday morning Locke had performed “real well.”<\/p>\n

Jones, who signed with the Broncos in free agency in 2024, is an important part of the secondary that has held opposing quarterbacks to the second-lowest QBR this season (48.4, behind only the Houston Texans<\/a> at 47.7). The Broncos also lead the NFL in sacks with 58.<\/p>\n

The Broncos lead the NFL in man coverage snaps as well with three players, including Jones, who have played the most man-to-man snaps in the league thus far this season. Broncos cornerback Riley Moss<\/a> leads the NFL with 334 man coverage snaps, safety Talanoa Hufanga<\/a> is second (315) and Jones is third (303).<\/p>\n

They are the only three players in the league with more than 300 man-to-man snaps.<\/p>\n

The Broncos’ three remaining regular-season games are against the Jacksonville Jaguars<\/a>, the Kansas City Chiefs<\/a> and the Los Angeles Chargers<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jeff LegwoldDec 15, 2025, 06:09 PM ET CloseJeff Legwold covers the Denver Broncos at ESPN. He has covered…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":351542,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[349,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-351541","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-nfl","9":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=351541"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351541\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/351542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=351541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=351541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=351541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}