The Denver Broncos fell to their eighth straight loss on Sunday in a convincing 35-9 bludgeoning at the hands of the Miami Dolphins. Denver was dealt another significant blow on Tuesday afternoon with the loss of starting defensive end Derek Wolfe.
Wolfe was ruled out for the rest of the season at the advisement of spinal surgeon Dr. Robert Watkins, according to Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk.
Wolfe did not play against the Dolphins last Sunday because of a neck injury that was causing numbness in his face, arms and legs. Wolfe went to see spinal surgeon Dr. Robert Watkins in Los Angeles on Monday and learned that he won’t need surgery to fix the problem, but was advised to shut down football activities for a couple of months.
The 27-year-old suffered the injury during Denver's Week 12 loss to the Oakland Raiders. The injury forced him to be carted off the field.
He received further evaluation, leading to this decision to shut Wolfe down with four games left in the season. In the 11 games played, Wolfe recorded 31 total tackles, two sacks, six quarterback hits, and 3.5 run stuffs despite dealing with multiple injuries.
Dr. Watkins has worked with many notable players over the last several years, including performing a spinal fusion on Peyton Manning back in 2011 that allowed him to continue to play. He also performed disc surgeries on both New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski and Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt back in 2016.
The loss of feeling made this a simple decision, and there's no reason to rush him back given that Denver won't make the postseason. The Broncos will continue to monitor the situation closely given his well-documented history of neck injuries.
Wolfe should physically be able to go through full offseason workouts and be in line to play next season. He still has two more years left on his four-year, $36.7 million deal.