ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- On Thursday, Denver Broncos coach Gary Kubiak had held out a glimmer of hope that injured left tackle Ryan Clady would recover quickly enough from impending ACL surgery to return to the field during the 2015 season.
However, the Broncos officially closed the book on that thought Friday when they placed Clady on season-ending injured reserve. Tackle Ryan Harris was added to the roster in Clady's spot; the Broncos stand at 90 players.
Clady suffered his injury while blocking on a pass play in drills in Wednesday's practice. After an initial examination by team trainers, he stayed on the field, watched the remainder of practice and was limping only slightly.
The Broncos gave Clady an MRI on Thursday morning, which revealed the ACL tear.
Several of Clady's teammates said they were surprised at the news, given they had seen him walking around the team's complex Thursday.
Kubiak, too, had cited Clady's previous ability to bounce back from injury in the hopes the four-time Pro Bowl selection could somehow return at some point in the 2015 season.
"Ryan's got a little history of coming off of an injury, so they have a pretty good feel of how long it would take him to do something like this,'' Kubiak said.
But after a night to think about it, and with the Broncos' medical staff planning for Clady's surgery within the next two weeks after the swelling goes down in the knee, the team decided that placing Clady on IR was the right move.
It will be the second time in the past three seasons Clady has been on injured reserve. He missed all but two games in 2013 because of foot surgery.
Former Colorado State offensive tackle Ty Sambrailo, the Broncos' second-round pick in this year's draft, has worked at left tackle with the starters in practice the past two days.