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Broncos kicker Brandon McManus has been battling a quad issue the past couple of weeks, but he insists the injury hasn’t affected his kicking and won’t be an issue Sunday against the Chiefs.
McManus is 17 of 19 on field goals inside the 50 this year, with both misses being blocks. He is 6 of 11 from beyond 50, including missed game-winning kicks in the waning seconds of Week 1 in Seattle (64-yarder wide left) and last week in Baltimore (a 63-yarder just short).
Denver special teams coordinator Dwayne Stukes said he expects McManus to be fine to kick this weekend, though he left the door open for the possibility that punter Corliss Waitman might handle kickoff duties. McManus didn’t practice Wednesday, was limited Thursday and then full on Friday.
“Some of those kickoffs we wanted as touchbacks last week and it didn’t go that way,” Stukes said. “You know that Brandon is hurting a little bit, but we’re not going to use that as an excuse. He has to perform if he’s out there, and that’s what we expect him to do this weekend.”
McManus said his confidence hasn’t wavered despite his misses with the game on the line. He is still confident in his ability to hit from distance; his career long remains 61 yards, set last season against the Chargers.
“Minus the two blocks, I’m at my goal with no misses under 50 yards,” McManus said. “There was a 53-yarder earlier in the year against San Francisco that I’d like back… and there were two 56-yarders as well. I expect myself to make them. And I want to be 80% from beyond 50, so I need to start making some of those to attain that 80% goal.”
Injury updates. Receiver Courtland Sutton, tight end/fullback Andrew Beck and linebacker Dakota Allen will all be out with hamstring injuries Sunday. Defensive tackle D.J. Jones (shoulder), left guard Dalton Risner (shoulder/back) and inside linebacker Justin Strnad (knee) are questionable.
Mahomes imitation. After the 49ers signed Josh Johnson to their active roster earlier this week, the Broncos signed Jarrett Guarantano to their practice squad to replace Johnson as the team’s third-string quarterback.
That meant Guarantano, a rookie who spent the preseason with Arizona and the first five weeks on the Cardinals’ practice squad, was tasked with doing his best Patrick Mahomes impression this week in practice.
“I had to get in here and learn the playbook for our team, but most importantly I have to give a good look for the defense,” Guarantano said. “Everybody knows Pat’s a special talent, so scrambling, extending the play, doing those types of things that he does was my main priority this week.”
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