Dre Greenlaw
Getty
Denver Broncos linebackr Dre Greenlaw.
The Denver Broncos went out of their way to spend big money at inside linebacker in 2025, and it blew up in their face, handing a 3-year, $31.5 milion to free agent Dre Greenlaw only to see him produce little to nothing.
For the Broncos, it also turned out all the answers they needed at inside linebacker were already on the roster with Justin Strnad and Alex Singleton, both of whom landed new contracts in the last few days, while Greenlaw was given his walking papers on Monday, on the 1st day of NFL free agency.
“The Broncos are releasing Dre Greenlaw, per source,” DNVR’s Zac Stevens wrote on his official X account on Monday. “By releasing Dre Greenlaw, Broncos have $4.33M in dead money, but save $6M in cap space.”
“Source: TheBroncos are releasing veteran LB Dre Greenlaw, a big-time physical presence in their defense,” NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport wrote on Monday.
Greenlaw Disappointed Broncos From the Jump
Greenlaw’s health was an issue beginning in the preseason, which he missed almost the entirety of with a mysterious injury issue, and also led to him missing 9 regular-season games.
Even when he was healthy, Greenlaw couldn’t seem to get right, including serving a one-game suspension for a postgame confrontation with a game official.
Bleacher Report’s Alex Ballentine put Greenlaw at the top of his list of possible salary cap casualties for the Broncos this offseason on February 1 — just days after a 10-7 home loss to the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship Game.
“The Broncos are in a nice spot financially so they don’t have to get too ruthless to clear space.” Ballentine wrote. “However, it’s worth revisiting the Dre Greenlaw signing. The Broncos inked him to a three-year, $31.5 million contract, but they’ve left themselves wiggle room to get out of it. The signing was a bet that Greenlaw could put his injury issues behind him, but that wasn’t the case. The 28-year-old was in and out of the lineup this season with groin, ankle, hamstring and quad injuries. He ultimately wound up only playing 58 percent of the snaps in eight games.”