The Broncos’ excitement about seeing Alex Singleton and Dre Greenlaw together at inside linebacker might only be exceeded by the giddiness the two players have about lining up as a duo.
It just hasn’t happened yet.
The team knew it would have to wait on Singleton as he completed his recovery from a torn ACL suffered last September.
But it wasn’t expecting to be without Greenlaw, who suffered a quad strain that kept him sidelined during offseason work, further delaying his path back from a torn Achilles suffered in Super Bowl LVIII that limited him to brief work last season.
That left the entirety of their work to walk-throughs and meetings. It’s not that they couldn’t get a lot done; in fact, Singleton noted that Greenlaw sits in the same spot that Josey Jewell occupied during his years working alongside him earlier this decade.
“It feels a lot like when I got here with Josey,” Singleton said. “That’s how we are in meetings … He’s in that same seat. So it’s kind of cool to have that experience. And it’s really easy to pick each other’s brains.
“We both played a lot of football, so to sit there and just kind of, ‘Hey, how do you see this? Even when we’re watching the rookies … or when we’re just watching tape from before or watching Niners tape, I can ask him, like, ‘Hey, how did you see this play?’ and you can really learn a lot about each other.”
This was how Singleton and Jewell reached the level of communication and cohesion that went beyond verbal cues; by 2023, even a gesture or a nod often did the trick. Their instincts meshed.
“You can be great at X’s and O’s, but if you’re not instinctual, especially at our position, you’re almost wasting your time. So to just be able to learn from each other and kind of know who that person is, I think is almost as important as the X’s and O’s.”
Greenlaw’s aggression, range and sideline-to-sideline pursuit and Singleton’s tenacity should mesh well — if they can stay healthy. This, of course, is where the Broncos bank on the methodology of vice president of player health and performance Beau Lowery and his staff.
In the last two years, no team has seen fewer games lost by players to injury than the Broncos. The team went from the most injured club in 2022 to the NFL’s least injured in the last two years.
Singleton should be good to go; by the time the regular season begins, nearly 12 months will have passed since his injury. As for Greenlaw, he will be nearly 19 months removed from his Achilles tear by Week 1. Of course, without it, he may never have been available in free agency.
Even with the injury concerns, the 49ers attempted to bring him back, with coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch flying to Texas to talk Greenlaw out of departing for Denver. They failed.
That should speak volumes, too.
Sure, the Broncos are taking a risk. But if it pays off, their defensive core is transformed.
IS DREW SANDERS READY TO STEP UP FOR THE BRONCOS?
Re-signing Justin Strnad was crucial in terms of giving the Broncos an experienced component behind Greenlaw and Singleton, especially with Cody Barton moving on in free agency.
“When you look at the amount of snaps Strnad’s had, all of the sudden, now there’s a confidence, ‘I’m not just a guy running down on special teams. I started a whole season,'” Broncos coach Sean Payton said.
That being said, the team knew it needed to upgrade the spine of its defense at the back two levels after being exposed down the stretch.
The ideal scenario for the Broncos is for Strnad to be a core-four special teamer and occasional relief on defense. Should he be forced to start extensively as he did last year, the defense could be in the same spot of bother as it was last December.
That’s where Drew Sanders enters the picture.
Two years ago, when thrust into action at inside linebacker in September 2023, he wasn’t ready. By the end of the season, his snaps came on the edge, where the responsibilities were different; he could be more of a see-ball, get-ball attacker.
As the 2024 offseason dawned, the Broncos saw Sanders primarily as an edge.
Thus, when Sanders returned to practice last November after missing six-and-a-half months due to a ruptured Achilles tendon, he began by working with the edge rushers. But by mid-December, he worked with the inside linebackers, even though defensive coordinator Vance Joseph would not categorize Sanders as such at the time.
Drew Sanders practiced today. It was his first practice work since tearing his Achilles last April. The Broncos now have 21 days to decide whether to activate him from the PUP list. pic.twitter.com/SAVAsLc2DE
— Andrew Mason (@MaseDenver) November 6, 2024
But by May that had changed. And with Greenlaw and Singleton still working their way back to full health, Sanders worked next to Strnad on the inside.
“No, the vision is clear. Inside linebacker,” Payton said. “We think he’s a pressure player. So obviously, there’s ways where you can pressure that guy from a stacked position, or to an outside position. He’s doing well handling it.”
“And Drew, getting that work constantly inside I think is extremely helpful.”
Beyond Sanders and Strnad, the picture is competitive, but murkier, befitting the fact that three undrafted rookies are in the mix along with second-year player Levelle Bailey, who played 10 games last year after being undrafted — but saw all but five of his 152 snaps come on special teams.
Of the three undrafted rookies — J.B. Brown, Karene Reid and Jordan Turner — Reid has the largest total guaranteed money, per data compiled by OvertheCap.come, at $234,000. Reid’s figure is the largest of this year’s undrafted Broncos rookie class, a distinction he shares with edge rusher Johnny Walker Jr.
Brown’s guarantee is $150,000. Turner signed after getting a tryout during rookie minicamp; his guarantee is unlisted, but it is likely minimal given that there was no competition for his services in the moments after the draft.
The guarantee offers an indication of post-draft demand, as well as potential intent when the player arrives. But it assures nothing more. To wit: Last year safety Omar Brown had the third-highest guarantee among all undrafted signees and he didn’t even make the Broncos’ practice squad. Two years ago, Jaleel McLaughlin’s guaranteed-money figure was seventh among 11 undrafted players, and he’s still with the team.
So, assume nothing from those figures. Brown flashed and was around the ball, landing in my notebook a few times during OTAs and minicamp. But the test will come when pads go on next month.
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