Broncos head coach Sean Payton quashed any notion that star outside linebacker Nik Bonitto isn’t practicing because of his contract status.
Bonitto is entering the final year of his rookie contract, and Thursday was his third straight day missed after he appeared to come up limping in Saturday’s preseason game.
Payton said Bonitto had a small, non-weight-bearing bone spur on his foot removed and should be back to work next week.
“He had a little spur on the top of his foot, alright?” Payton said. “Now, I had two spurs removed on my big toe, and that hurt like a you know what. I’m still recovering, but it’s better. His is something we just had done and we knew he’d miss this week. He’ll be up and at it next week. He’s been fantastic. … I think three stitches and the goal would be to have him back at practice next week and getting some work against New Orleans.”
Bonitto thought about trying to play through it, but came up limping on a series against San Francisco in which he had two sacks and a pressure.
“He’s got really good edge power, and he’s got bend,” Payton said. “These deposits kind of grow where there’s pressure. It’s like your bone responds to it and says, ‘more.’ So his was small. Initially, he was like, ‘Well, will it just be a day or two?’ I think the feeling with our foot and ankle specialist was, ‘Yeah, but this isn’t something that you locally shoot (up) or anything.’ They said, ‘Nik, this is so easy to remove and then not have to deal with it on Monday every other week.’
“Then, alright, what’s the downside? When you say three or four days, maybe five days, it just made a lot of sense.”
Greenlaw back next week. Payton said inside linebacker Dre Greenlaw is dealing with some scar tissue in his quadricep and should be back next week.
“He’s doing well,” Payton said. “There’s some scar tissue, and we’re going to see his pitch count — you’re going to see him more next week.”
Greenlaw started off training camp doing some team work but dropped out of practice and missed a couple of days. He returned to work this week but has been limited to individual work.
“He’s champing at the bit,” Payton said. “It’ll be important for him to get some padded work in.”
Adkins will miss time. Tight end Nate Adkins had “tightrope” ankle surgery earlier this week and is going to miss the early part of the regular season, Payton said, adding the surgery was “clean.”
The third-year man out of South Carolina was injured during last week’s joint practice at San Francisco.
“We went back and forth — he had an ankle sprain,” Payton said. “The benefit of the tightrope is it gives you a defined timeline and a consistent recovery. I don’t want to give a timeline on it, but he’s going to miss some early portion of the season.”
Bolles OK after scare. Left tackle Garett Bolles had a scary moment during practice when he was helped off the field and into an ambulance. Payton, though, said the veteran was “going to be fine.”
“He had some asthma, some breathing, so we just pulled him out,” Payton said. “He’ll be OK.”
Two other Broncos players dropped out of Thursday’s joint practice, both with hamstring issues: Fullback Mike Burton and newly signed defensive back Gregory Junior.
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