Broncos have injuries at safety

ENGLEWOOD – After finishing Sunday’s game with hardly any healthy safeties, the Broncos will have to evaluate who can play safety this week.

Starter Renaldo Hill and backups Darcel McBath were knocked out of the game at Indianapolis, third-stringer David Bruton was inactive and remaining safeties Brian Dakwins and Josh Barrett were playing despite being listed all week on the injury report.

Hill, who was on crutches with an ankle injury after the game, wasn’t ruled out of Sunday’s game. It does appear Hill will have to make a dramatic recovery during the week to play against Oakland.

“We’ll see how Renaldo progresses this week, and we’ve got who we’ve got,” coach Josh McDaniels said.

McDaniels said Bruton, Barrett and new signee Vernon Fox will all get repetitions in practice. Fox was signed when McBath was put on injured reserve with a broken forearm.

Hill called many of the signals in the secondary. His potential replacements include a rookie (Bruton), a second-year player (Barrett) or someone who has been with the team less than a week (Fox), which could be a difficult adjustment.

“Other guys have to step up and pick up some of that burden whenever you lose a player is really kind of like a quarterback in the secondary,” McDaniels said.

At least the Broncos will get to face Charlie Frye at quarterback. Frye, who hasn’t played all year and has thrown 33 passes since 2006, will start for the Raiders this week. Bruce Gradkowski has a knee injury and JaMarcus Russell will remain the backup. The Broncos didn’t expect much to change in the Raiders’ offense.

“It’s about what they do as a team,” Dawkins said. “They’re going to try to run the ball and take shots when they get opportunities. You prepare for what they do best.”