Neither the Broncos nor DT Justin Bannan were terribly concerned about whether a nagging calf injury would keep him from being ready for the regular season. But in his brief spurts of work prior to Monday's practice, they saw enough to know that they didn't want to push it.
"It was a tricky situation," said Bannan, who returned to practice Monday and took part in the full extent of work over the two-hour, 40-minute session. "When I came to camp, I felt like I was fine. The actual place where I injured it, I didn't really have the pain or anything. I
"I've never had a situation like that before in my life, so I didn't really know how to handle it. So I went out and practiced with it, and felt like I could go, but other muscles were pulling because it wasn't ready. I had a couple of setbacks. So we decided to be patient and shut it down for a little bit and let everything calm down."
Bannan suffered the injury while working out two weeks before training camp during a sprint at the end of his session.
The injury cost him practice time, but nothing more than that. Bannan kept his spot on the first team and lined up there Monday.
"I feel strong," Bannan said. "I've just got to ease back into it, get the leg used to firing of the ball and all of those things."
Williams gets work: It took two and a half weeks, but linebacker D.J. Williams finally saw a snap, working as a second-team linebacker during a third-and-1 play late in the practice. He had been at every other training-camp practice, but hadn't taken part in anything other than individual drills.
The nine-year veteran faces a six-game suspension for a substance-abuse violation at the start of the regular season. He also has a retrial on DUI charges that begins Wednesday.
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