Basketball took away one Broncos offensive lineman.
Golf wiped out another.
The only difference between these off-field injuries is Matt McChesney may be done with football for good.
McChesney, a former University of Colorado defensive lineman who had been playing guard and center for the Broncos, is expected to retire after a rolling golf cart left him with a severe ankle injury.
“It was just a freak accident,” said McChesney, a former Niwot High School star. “It stinks.”
McChes-ney’s setback happened roughly a week after Broncos offensive tackle Ryan Clady suffered a partially torn patellar tendon in his left knee while playing basketball April 23.
Although Clady is expected to miss most — if not all — of training camp and the preseason, the Broncos are hoping their all-pro blocker will return in time to be a starter in their regular-season opener Sept. 12 at Jacksonville.
If this keeps up, Broncos blockers might want to seek out a crossing guard before walking across the street.
The offseason injuries to Clady and McChesney, coupled with late 2009 surgeries for Russ Hochstein and Ryan Harris, mean the Broncos’ first-team offensive line when they open their organized team activity (OTA) on Monday will likely be Tyler Polumbus at left tackle, Seth Olsen at left guard, J.D. Walton at center, Chris Kuper at right guard and Zane Beadles at right tackle.
Beadles and Walton are rookies who were drafted in the second and third rounds, respectively, and Olsen was a fourth-round pick in the 2009 draft who was inactive for 13 of 16 games last season.
No wonder the Broncos drafted a mobile, linebackerlike quarterback in Tim Tebow.
McChesney, who had a shot to make the Broncos’ roster this year as a backup center and guard, had climbed out of the golf cart he was driving to approach his ball. Just as McChesney got out, the trailing cart was driving by and accidently clipped his ankle.
It was the same ankle McChesney had surgically repaired after a preseason injury last year.The Broncos have told McChesney they would like him to try rehabilitating his injury and compete for a job in training camp. But having battled numerous injuries since he was named CU’s defensive player of the year in 2004, McChesney appears ready to enter the next phase in his life.
“It’s been a long road,” said McChesney, who played in three NFL games as a defensive tackle and special-teams player for the New York Jets in 2005 and was on their practice squad in 2006 before he was converted to guard prior to the 2007 season.
Various injuries, however, prevented his development, and he wound up playing in just one game, in 2008 for the Miami Dolphins, as an offensive lineman.
according to denverpost.com
