48 Shaquil Barrett OLB

Barrett (hip) is not listed on Thursday's injury report.

Barrett is pegged as the Broncos' starting strong-side linebacker with Shane Ray on injured reserve. He and the rest of Denver's defense will aim to start the season strong against the Chargers on Monday.

Shane Ray will be placed on injured reserve with the intention of bringing him back for Week 8's contest against Kansas City, the Broncos' official site reports. Barrett (hip) will be among those tasked with keeping the pass rush humming in the interim.

The logic of placing Ray on IR, according to general manager John Elway, is that the Broncos have a bye and play their seventh game on a Monday night - reducing Ray's absence to six games as opposed to eight. Among the options the Broncos will count on opposite Von Miller, Barrett is the only familiar face. A better run defender than rusher, Barrett can still get to the passer as evidenced by his 5.5 sacks in 2015, a season in which he filled in as a starter for - you guessed it- six games.

Barrett (hip) will be removed from the non-football injury list today and the hope is to prepare for him to play Week 1, James Palmer of NFL Network reports.

The development is welcome news for a Broncos front decimated by injuries this offseason. Denver was looking at opening the season without their top two options opposite star Von Miller, Barrett and Shane Ray. Assuming Barrett is able to get in playing shape in short order and Ray remains on his current time table, Barrett might get a few starts at the beginning of the season before moving back to a depth role. At his best when setting the edge in the running game, Barrett has shown the ability to get after the passer in spurts with 5.5 sacks as a spot-starter in 2015.

General manager John Elway said he's been "pleasantly surprised" by Barrett's (hip) recovery, Nicki Jhabvala of The Denver Post reports. "He's going to start working on the first of August with the trainers and start getting him working that way and then we'll see the progress," Elway said. "The prognosis of his return is a lot better than what we first heard of the injury, which he could have been out for the whole year. We're hoping sometime in September."

Although Barrett didn't require surgery to heal the hip injury he suffered during May's OTAs, his injury was still considered to be at least somewhat serious and it's great news that he's healing as fast as he is. However, Elway's comments still made it sound as if Barrett will miss the first couple weeks of the season.

Barrett (hip) was placed on the Broncos' Non-Football Injury list Monday, James Palmer of NFL Network reports.

Barrett evidently needs a little more time to recover from the hip injury he suffered back in May. Until Barrett is back in action, fellow reserve linebackers Kasim Edebali and Vontarrius Dora should be in line for extra reps.