Broncos defensive end Jeremy Beal's season ended before it even got a chance to begin. The defensive end suffered a knee injury against the Arizona Cardinals in the Broncos' final preseason game and was placed on injured reserve on Aug. 31 when teams had to reduce their active rosters to 53 players.

Under the NFL's new injured reserve rule, teams have the ability to activate one player from the IR each season. Unfortunately for Beal, as the Denver Post's Jeff Legwold details, that only applies to players who were injured and placed on IR after Sept. 4. Given Beal's Aug. 31 IR date, he's unable to return due to the new guidelines. It is also believed that Beal's injury might have been season-ending whether the new rule was in play or not.

The 2011 seventh-round pick of the Broncos spent the last two seasons as a member of the team's practice squad.

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