<p>ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — A person with knowledge of the details tells The Associated Press that Broncos wide receiver DaeSean Hamilton sustained a serious knee injury Friday while working out on his own.</p>
<p>The person, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Hamilton is suspected to have torn an ACL, as first reported by NFL Network.</p>
<p>That not only imperils his $2.183 million salary for 2021, but it also squelches trade talks for the fourth-year pro from Penn State.</p>
<p>This is the second time this month that a Broncos veteran has been hurt away from the team’s facilities.</p>
<p>On Friday, the Broncos cut <a href="https://apnews.com/article/denver-broncos-jawuan-james-nfl-business-football-9994df905d7482e315723679e56981cd">Ja’Wuan James</a>, a week after putting him on the non-football injury list after the right tackle tore an Achilles tendon while working out away from the team’s headquarters. </p>
<p>The Broncos weren’t obligated to pay James’ $10 million-plus salary for 2021 because he got hurt while working out on his own, and the team is similarly off the hook for Hamilton’s $2.183 million salary for the upcoming season.</p>
<p>The Broncos players were the first of 20 teams to announce last month that they would boycott voluntary offseason workouts, citing COVID-19 concerns and the success of the 2020 season, which followed a virtual offseason.</p>
<p>Players are protected against lost wages if they sustain an injury at a team’s facility. They don’t have the same protection if they’re injured working out anywhere else.</p>
<p>That’s a point the NFL’s management council reiterated in a memo to all team executives and head coaches last week after James got hurt.</p>
<p>In the memo, the league encouraged teams to “remind players of the significant injury-related protection provided if they choose to work out at the club facility and the risks they undertake in choosing to train in non-NFL locations.”</p>
<p>The NFL Players Association responded with a memo to players that called the league “gutless to use a player’s serious injury as a scare tactic to get (players) to come running back to these workouts” at team headquarters.</p>
<p>Hamilton’s injury came just as the Broncos were trying to trade the fourth-year receiver who has five career TD catches and who is buried in a deep position group that features Courtland Sutton, Jerry Jeudy, KJ Hamler and Tim Patrick.</p>
<p>With James out, the Broncos signed free agent tackles Bobby Massie and Cameron Fleming this week to compete for the right tackle job in training camp.</p>
<p>The Broncos opened their three-day rookie minicamp on Friday. Although on-field work for veterans begins Monday, the only mandatory part of the offseason program is a minicamp in mid-June.</p>
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