The Denver Broncos have placed rookie running back Jonah Coleman on short-term injured reserve after a high-ankle sprain, a development that will keep the fourth-round pick out for the next several weeks.
The news, first reported Saturday, marks an early setback for a player who had already begun to make a case for himself in Denver’s backfield.
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Coleman will miss the next few games and is expected to return for Denver’s late-October matchup with the Arizona Cardinals.
DNVR’s Zac Stevens added that the rookie is projected to be back after the four-game minimum required by injured reserve.
NFL on Prime’s James Palmer reported that Coleman actually hurt the ankle on his first touch against the Jacksonville Jaguars and still finished the game, which makes the subsequent IR designation feel especially abrupt. J.K. Dobbins and R.J. Harvey are both healthy as the team works through the absence.
The injury first surfaced earlier in the week. Ahead of Denver’s Week 3 meeting with the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday Night Football, Schefter reported that Coleman was dealing with a sprained ankle suffered in the Jacksonville game.
At the same time, Harvey was progressing from a hamstring issue and Dobbins, who left that same contest early, was expected to practice. The cluster of backfield ailments did not go unnoticed.
Mile High Huddle’s Zack Kelberman wrote that the injury bug had officially hit the Broncos’ running backs, listing Harvey and Dobbins with hamstring problems and Coleman with the ankle.
Coleman’s early work had given Denver reason for optimism. Pressed into a larger role in a 20-13 comeback win over Jacksonville that evened the Broncos at 1-1, he finished with 10 carries for 39 yards and a touchdown plus three receptions for 19 yards.
That showing was consistent with the preseason impression that helped him land on some under-the-radar lists. ESPN’s Matt Bowen, writing in early September, called Coleman the NFL’s top under-the-radar rookie of 2026 after Denver selected him 108th overall.
Bowen pointed to foot quickness and vision in the run game, along with receiving skill and blocking that made him a useful third option behind Dobbins and Harvey.
The timing is inconvenient more than catastrophic. Short-term IR means Coleman will miss a stretch of the schedule, but the organization already has two veterans available and a clear timeline that points toward a return against Arizona.
For a rookie who played through the initial sprain and still produced in Week 2, the next month is about recovery rather than a rewrite of his early evaluation.
If he comes back healthy and as decisive as he looked against Jacksonville, Denver’s committee can look much as it did before the ankle became the story.
