When you lay eyes on the Denver Broncos depth chart, and you get to inside linebackers, it’s going to be a natural reflex to cringe.
That’s because at the very top of the depth chart are 3 players who are all expected to play key roles in 2025 and who are all coming off serious injuries.
Free agent linebacker Dre Greenlaw tore his Achilles tendon in Super Bowl LVIII in February 2024, only played 2 games last season and now — depending who you believe — could miss a good portion of 2025 with a torn quadriceps.
Denver’s other starting linebacker, Alex Singleton, tore his ACL in a Week 3 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on the third play, but somehow played the remainder of the game. He might actually be the healthiest of the 3 linebackers at this point and told DNVR’s Zac Stevens he was on track to return for the Broncos’ 2025 season opener.
“I still can’t technically fully say, but let’s just say that there should be no worries about … playing this year,” Singleton said. “I’ll be out there.”
Singleton Put Up Big Numbers For Broncos in 2023
Singleton has been wildly productive over the last 4 seasons with the Philadelphia Eagles and Broncos, when he’s averaged 149.2 tackles per season and had a career high 177 tackles for the Broncos in 2023.
Through 3 games in 2024, Singleton was on track to equal that production and was finally going to get the chance to do on an elite defense, with 31 tackles and 1 interception in just 3 games.
Singleton’s path to the NFL is one of the most unusual you’ll probably ever come across. He didn’t play in his first NFL regular season game until he was 26 years old after going undrafted out of Montana State in 2015. Singleton spent 2 seasons on the practice squads for the Minnesota Vikings, Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots before playing 3 seasons in the CFL for the Calgary Stampeders, where he was named the CFL Most Outstanding Defensive Player in 2017.
After years of trying, Singleton finally made the active roster for the Eagles in 2019 and cashed in big with the Broncos in 2023 on a 3-year, $18 million contract.
