Champ Bailey Won’t Return Until He’s 100% As Denver Continues To Win

Champ Bailey is a Pro Bowl cornerback sitting on the sidelines as his team, the Denver Broncos, have cruised into a 4-0 start to the season, and he might be a spectator for a while longer.

According to coach John Fox the team won’t take a chance on Bailey until he’s back at 100 percent.

For the last several weeks Bailey has suited up with the hopes of taking to the field. However, three hours before kickoff he tests his sore foot and ultimately determines the pain is too severe to play. The star cornerback also realizes that re-injury chances are too great if he plays with pain still in his foot.

Now under the second longest absence of his 15-year NFL career Bailey says of the time away:

“I can’t even put it into words how frustrating it is. It’s frustrating missing practice, So games, it’s only 10 times more frustrating.”

While he would love to be on the field, contributing to an amazing run by the Denver Broncos, Bailey admits that spectating for a winning team helps with his “patience” as he recovers.

Doing a good job in his place are Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and Chris Harris along with an offense that is blowing out teams with an average of three touchdowns. Rodgers-Cromartie is taking most of the field time as Denver’s current No. 1 cornerback. When asked about his replacements performance Champ Bailey says, “He’s playing great. I can’t remember him having a season like this. I didn’t pay very close attention to him, but I was aware of what he was doing when he was in Arizona and Philly. He’s playing like a really elite corner right now.”

With excellent play in the secondary the Denver Broncos have managed to keep Champ Bailey off the field, allowing for a full recovery that should help the Broncos down the road. According to coach Fox:

“I think sometimes circumstances might create poor judgment and the fact that they’ve played well has allowed us to use good judgment and we’ll continue that with him. And I’ll remind everyone he’s a 12-time Pro Bowler, I think a first-ballot Hall of Fame guy and we’re looking forward to getting him COMPLETELY healthy and get him back in the lineup.”

Dealing with a Lisfranc injury can lead NFL players to surgery, in Bailey’s case his injury is only minor and keeping him out of play should help insure a full and faster recovery.