ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- Though Derek Wolfe has been suspended for the first four games of the regular season, the Denver Broncos will still give Wolfe his usual snaps in the team’s starting defense in training camp and the preseason.
Wolfe was suspended four game for violating the league’s policy on performance-enhancing drugs. Wolfe has said he mistakenly took a “medication’’ that was on the league’s banned substance list.
On Friday, following the team’s evening walk-through, Wolfe didn’t want to specifically address what substance caused the positive test.
“We're not going to talk about that right now,’’ Wolfe said following practice. “It was personal issues I was dealing with, and I dealt with it in a manner that I shouldn’t have. I'm just going to move past it. I just want to talk about football.’’
Wolfe has worked at end in the starting defense throughout the offseason program, and though he will not be available to play in a game until the Broncos face the Oakland Raiders in Week 5 (Oct. 11), coach Gary Kubiak said the Broncos will continue to work Wolfe with the starters.
“First off with Derek, we’re going to operate like he is going to be available for Game 1,’’ Kubiak said. “We’re not going to all of the sudden start a process where we’re getting ready to play in Week 5. He has to be ready to play in Week 1 just like everybody else. He has to have a great camp and do his job with this football team.’’
Wolfe can participate in all training camp practices and preseason games, but his suspension will begin the week before the Sept. 13 regular-season opener against the Baltimore Ravens. Wolfe is in the final year of his original rookie contract and had said earlier this year that he was finally feeling fully recovered from 2013, when he missed the final five games of the regular season after suffering a seizure on the team’s bus on the way to the Denver airport for a road trip.
“I really don't have any words for [the suspension] other than I'm disappointed in myself. I let the fans down, I let my teammates down, my coaches and the whole organization,’’ Wolfe said. “At the end of the day, I'm going to sit out four games and I'm going to come back strong. Like I said, I'm going to be pissed off and I'm going to be hungry … I'm going to go train my ass off, that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to train every day and embrace the day. I'll come back in even better shape than I left camp.’’
Wolfe played 67 percent of the defensive snaps (718) in 16 games last season, the second-highest total in the Broncos defensive line behind DeMarcus Ware’s 68.9 percent.