ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- With Peyton Manning wearing a walking cast on his left foot, the Denver Broncos signed Christian Ponder on Wednesday to bolster the depth chart for the foreseeable future.
With Manning set to miss, at minimum, two games with a partially torn plantar fascia, the Broncos brought Ponder in Wednesday to work him out and signed him before the team took the field for a late-morning practice.
Ponder, a first-round pick by the Minnesota Vikings in 2011, will not be up to speed enough to be the Broncos' No. 2 quarterback for Sunday night's game against the New England Patriots. Brock Osweiler will make his second consecutive start, and rookie Trevor Siemian will again be the Broncos' backup.
"Good thing is I have a little bit of a background with this kind of offense and what I ran with coach [Bill] Musgrave in Minnesota and Oakland, a little different verbiage,'' Ponder said. "But hopefully in a week or so I'll start getting stuff down, maybe shorter than that. But I'm going to put the time and effort to do it as quick as possible.''
Ponder's arrival means the Broncos have four quarterbacks on the roster.
Ponder had workouts with the Tennessee Titans and Dallas Cowboys earlier this season, but he had been unsigned since the Oakland Raiders cut him in training camp.
Ponder said he's always been a John Elway fan, even when he was a kid.
"Feels good to be here,'' Ponder said. "Was No. 7 in Little League baseball, college and four years in Minnesota because of that.''
Manning was in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Monday to consult with Dr. Robert Anderson, a noted orthopedic surgeon who specializes in foot and ankle injuries. Manning returned to Denver on Tuesday and met with Broncos coach Gary Kubiak as well as the team's medical staff. At that point the team also contacted Ponder.
That was after Anderson's recommendation, according to the Broncos, for Manning to wear a cast for the next week and, after the cast is removed, to then begin the next round of treatment on the injury.
Ponder said he got the call to come work out for Broncos while he was shopping for groceries for Thanksgiving.
"A door opened for me, and I'm glad it did,'' Ponder said.
Kubiak has consistently called Manning's recovery a "day-to-day, week-to-week'' affair. The fact Manning will be put in a cast reflects the need for him to take weight off his injured foot and to immobilize the area.
The Broncos did not allow Manning to participate in meetings or practices last week, and he did not travel with the team to Chicago, instead having treatment at the Broncos' suburban Denver complex.
Over the past month, Manning has been treated for a right shoulder injury, a rib injury as well as the plantar fascia injury.
"There was a concern too because we're sitting here with a guy who has one start in this league and a kid who hasn't had a play,'' Kubiak said. "Christian was out there -- he has a little bit of a background with some of our verbiage ... came in worked out good.''
Asked whether the expectation is that Manning will be back at some point, Kubiak said: "Absolutely. He's doing everything he can to come back.''
Ponder started 36 games for the Vikings and threw 38 touchdown passes to go with 36 interceptions.