Broncos' Peterson suspended, By: Mike Klis

07/06/2007

Defensive end Kenny Peterson would miss four games next season - if he makes the roster. (Getty | Jed Jacobson)

There isn't even a close second.

As the Broncos get ready to open training camp later this month, the most competitive position, by far, is at defensive line, which lost a player today.

Kenny Peterson was suspended for the first four regular-season NFL games after he violated the NFL's policy on anabolic steroids and related substances. Peterson got little playing time with the Broncos last season.

Providing Peterson makes the Broncos out of training camp, he would forfeit $140,000 of his $595,000 salary, or 23.5 percent of the league's 17-week season. He could return the week of the Broncos' fifth game, Oct. 7 against the defending AFC West champion San Diego Chargers at Invesco Field.

Peterson, 28, can participate in the Broncos' final minicamp that will be held Monday and Tuesday, as well as training camp, which opens July 29, and all four preseason games. But he figures to be listed no better than No. 7 on the depth chart of defensive ends - behind Kenard Lang, Ebenezer Ekuban, Elvis Dumervil, John Engelberger and rookies Jarvis Moss and Tim Crowder.

And, at defensive tackle, where Peterson filled in once for the injured Gerard Warren last season, the Broncos added Sam Adams, Alvin McKinley, Jimmy Kennedy and rookie Marcus Thomas to a group that already included Warren, Demetrin Veal, Amon Gordon and Antwon Burton.

Peterson was selected out of Ohio State in the third round of the 2003 draft by Green Bay but never started in his three seasons there. Among the Packers' final roster cuts last season, Peterson was signed by the Broncos last October. He got two tackles in a November game at Oakland, but was listed as inactive in the Broncos' final six games.