Denver Broncos wide receiver Jerry Jeudy will miss some time at the start of the 2023 NFL regular season because of a hamstring injury.

But Denver general manager George Paton told reporters on Tuesday afternoon that the Broncos had kept Jeudy on the initial 53-player active roster for the regular season.

NFL teams had until 3 p.m. CDT Tuesday to reduce their preseason rosters from 90 players to the regular-season limit of 53. Had Jeudy been placed on injured reserve before that deadline, he would not have been able to play for Denver this season.

Because he’s on the inaugural 53-player roster for 2023, the former Alabama All-American could have been placed on injured reserve after 3 p.m. Wednesday and been able to return to active status when he is healthy, although he would have had to miss a minimum of four games.

Because the Broncos like the progress that Jeudy is making, they won’t put him on injured reserve, hoping he’ll be back within that four-week period.

Jeudy suffered a hamstring injury on Thursday at practice.

Jeudy was the Broncos’ leading receiver in 2022, when he posted career highs of 67 receptions for 972 yards and six touchdowns in 15 games.

With 18 receptions for 309 yards in Denver’s final three games, Jeudy nearly reached 1,000 receiving yards for the season, likely kept from the milestone by an ankle injury suffered on the first snap against the Tennessee Titans on Nov. 13 that caused him to miss the rest of that game and the next two, too.

Jeudy was an All-American at Alabama – receiving consensus status in 2018 and repeating as a member of the American Football Coaches Association’s first team for the 2019 season.

Since entering the NFL as the 15th pick in the 2020 draft, Jeudy has 157 receptions for 2,295 yards and nine touchdowns in 41 games.

During the offseason, the Broncos picked up their fifth-year option on Jeudy’s rookie contract, which guarantees the wide receiver will receive $12.987 million for the 2024 season.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.