The Denver Broncos made the tough decision to release linebacker Dre Greenlaw this offseason. The move likely didn't hurt his feelings too much and he quickly went back to the team he came from, the San Francisco 49ers.
The Broncos may have sensed that it just wasn't a good fit for Greenlaw as injuries drove a huge wedge into his ability to make an impact. The Broncos knew that signing him came with some injury risk and unfortunately, he just wasn't able to be on the field enough.
It's debatable as to whether or not the Broncos should have kept him in the fold for the 2026 season, as the team is thin at the inside linebacker position, but maybe the Broncos wanted to give him a chance to feel better. During a recent appearance on "The Set" podcast, Greenlaw revealed his unhappiness in Denver. He had this to say:
"For me, it was like, the fact that I'm not healthy, I don't feel that twitch or that gear that I felt like I need to have, but obviously I'm out here trying to do everything I can to be on the field. It makes it tough when you pay a guy $11 million and he's only on the field 50 percent of the time. It made it tough for me. It made it to the point where it kind of makes you not happy.
Now I've got to slowly come in and take reps from somebody else, which the linebackers were playing really, really good at the time, so now I'm just taking reps from this guy. And now it's like, OK, we're splitting reps, how are we going to do it? One week it's this, one week it's that, and it's like, I've never been in that position before. Yeah, I just wasn't happy. That's really what it boiled down to at the end of the day.
Everything works out for a reason. I don't regret none of it. I'm thankful for it all, for Sean (Payton) and everybody that accepted me into that organization, teammates and all. But, yeah, I'm excited to be a Niner".
Greenlaw was an effective player when he was on the field, registering 43 tackles, one interception, one sack and a forced fumble. He just wasn't out there enough and the Broncos clearly agreed with Greenlaw's assessment that the other linebackers — Alex Singleton and Justin Strnad — were playing at a high level. The Broncos quickly re-signed each of them to new deals this offseason.
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Still, the team needs to look at addressing this position with one of their early picks in the 2026 NFL Draft.
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