Tag: Inside Linebacker

Sean Payton hints linebacker could join Broncos’ 53-man roster next week

Kwon Alexander can be elevated from the practice squad one more time. After that, he’s a likely candidate to be fully promoted to the 53.

The Denver Broncos may have found their Alex Singleton replacement.

After losing Singleton to a season-ending torn ACL, the Broncos signed two veteran linebackers — Kwon Alexander and Zach Cunningham — to their practice squad. Alexander has been elevated to the game-day roster in each of the team’s last two games.

Alexander (13 snaps) did not end up playing as much as Justin Strnad (37 snaps) last week, but it appears that Denver could be ramping him up for a bigger role.

“We go back and forth based on what our package is,” coach Sean Payton said of the linebacker rotation. “So a lot of it has to do with who we’re playing. A lot of it has to do with, ‘What’s our personnel? Are we in base? Are we in penny?’ and then, ‘Who are we playing?’ relative to those decisions.”

Alexander can be elevated from the practice squad to the game-day roster one more time without having to clear waivers. Payton was asked this week if the linebacker is a candidate to eventually be fully promoted to the 53-man roster.

“Yes,” Payton said. “In other words, we brought in two veteran linebackers. The good news is that decisions isn’t now, but we brought in both those players because they have a lot of experience. They’ve played at a real high level, and they give us some flexibility.”

After Alexander uses his final elevation (presumably this week), he will likely be a top candidate to get activated to the 53-man roster. That transaction could happen as soon as next week.

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Broncos LB Cody Barton had a huge game against the Saints

“It was just one of those nights where it just comes to you and you just kind of feel it,” Cody Barton said of his big game on ‘TNF.’

Denver Broncos inside linebacker Cody Barton dominated the New Orleans Saints in a 33-10 victory on Thursday Night Football in Week 7.

Barton finished the game with eight tackles, one pass breakup, one sack, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery that he returned 52 yards for a touchdown. Barton also scored earlier in the game, but that touchdown was negated by a pre-snap penalty on defense.

After his impressive performance, Barton did not shine the spotlight on himself.

“It was just one of those nights where it just comes to you and you just kind of feel it,” Barton said. “It was a great team win. It was just one of those games. It was a great team win on the road on a short week. I am happy for everyone.”

Denver’s defense ended the day with two takeaways and six sacks. They didn’t allow a touchdown until backups entered the game late in the fourth quarter.

“Being on this defense is fun,” Barton said. “It’s aggressive. Everyone has a chance to eat. Today, I feel like it was kind of my day. Some of those bigger splash plays came my way. If this game were tomorrow, you don’t know who it is going to be. That’s kind of how this defense is. It’s a lot of fun just running around.”

If Barton and the defense continue playing at this level, the Broncos will be playoff contenders this fall.

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Broncos promote linebacker to 53-man roster

The Broncos promoted linebacker Levelle Bailey from the practice squad to the 53-man roster on Tuesday.

The Denver Broncos promoted linebacker Levelle Bailey from the practice squad to their 53-man roster on Tuesday. Denver had an open spot available for Bailey on the active roster after placing running back Tyler Badie (back) on injured reserve last week.

Bailey (6-2, 225 pounds) signed with the team as an undrafted free agent out of Fresno State this spring. After the team lost Alex Singleton to a season-ending torn ACL, Bailey was elevated from the practice squad to the game-day roster in each of the last two weeks.

Bailey has now been fully promoted to the 53-man roster. He played 14 snaps on special teams in Week 5 and 10 snaps on special teams in Week 4. Bailey will serve as Denver’s fourth inside linebacker behind starters Cody Barton and Justin Strnad and primary backup Kristian Welch.

Bailey, 23, will likely continue to contribute on special teams while providing depth on defense. The Broncos still have veteran linebackers Kwon Alexander and Zach Cunningham on their practice squad.

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Justin Strnad, Cody Barton stepping up for Broncos at linebacker

Following the Alex Singleton injury, Justin Strnad and Cody Barton have stepped up at linebacker for the Broncos.

Following the Alex Singleton injury last week, Cody Barton became the new play-caller with the “green dot” on defense and Justin Strnad stepped into a starting role, filling Singleton’s old position.

The new starting duo had a brilliant performance against the New York Jets on Sunday. Barton played all 74 snaps, totaling a team-high 10 tackles. Strnad played 57 snaps, recording four tackles (including two behind the line of scrimmage) and a sack in Denver’s 10-9 win.

“Those guys stepped up,” coach Sean Payton said Monday. “It’s always difficult when you lose someone who’s been as productive and certainly one of the team leaders. [I] was proud of the way those young guys played.”

Singleton was the team’s leading tackler before his injury. The Broncos are not going to exactly replicate Singleton’s performance, but Strnad and Barton did an excellent job filling in.

“I mean, obviously, you’re going to always miss Alex,” defensive lineman Zach Allen said Sunday. “Alex is Alex, but today, I think Cody and Justin did an incredible job. Cody’s obviously played a lot of ball in this league at a high level. So, it was a pretty good transition. Calls were coming out clean, communication was good and I can’t even really think of any real missed assignments. So, it’s a real credit to Cody. Then Justin too, to come in like that, it was awesome and we’re really proud of him.”

Before this fall, Strnad had played two straight seasons exclusively on special teams. He transitioned well from not playing at all to starting in Week 4, and he seems likely to keep the starting job going into Week 5.

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Broncos LB Alex Singleton will undergo ACL surgery in L.A. on Oct. 15

Broncos LB Alex Singleton will undergo ACL surgery in Los Angeles on Oct. 15, according to 9News.

After tearing his ACL against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sept. 22, Denver Broncos inside linebacker Alex Singleton will travel to California for surgery later this month, according to a report from KUSA-TV’s Mike Klis.

Dr. Neal ElAttrache will perform the surgery in Los Angeles on Oct. 15, according to Klis. It was a clean injury for Singleton, which is good news for the linebacker’s recovery. He should be healed in time to return ahead of the 2025 season, which will be the final year of his contract with the Broncos.

In the meantime, Denver has turned to Justin Strnad to step up at ILB.

“It hurts a lot,” defensive coordinator Vance Joseph said of Singleton’s injury last week. “Obviously, you lose one of your better players, it’s not good for you. It’s a long season, and every year something is going to happen. I didn’t know what was going to happen, but I’m not shook or surprised that we lost a good player. We have guys in that room that have been practicing and playing for us that we had picked that we have to play with.

“When you lose a player like Alex, everyone has to do more, have to be better on game day. The safeties have to be better, and Pat [Surtain] has to be better. It’s a group effort to kind of cover what he gave us.”

Singleton led the Broncos with 31 tackles before his injury.

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How will the Broncos replace Alex Singleton on defense?

“You can’t replace a guy like Alex [Singleton],” but the Broncos will have to try.

When the Denver Broncos placed linebacker Alex Singleton on injured reserve with a torn ACL on Wednesday, they lost more than just a starter on defense.

Denver lost a team captain and the “green dot” play-caller on defense. It won’t be easy to replace Singleton.

“That one’s tough,” quarterback Bo Nix said. “Really tough. Alex is a great teammate. Alex is a great football player. He does a lot on the field for us. He’s one of those guys that when he’s on the field, everybody feels a lot better. It’s going to be tough.”

So, who’s going to start in Singleton’s place against the New York Jets in Week 4? Broncos coach Sean Payton has no desire to reveal his specific plans.

“Look, we’ve got a lot of options,” Payton said. “I’m not going to cover them, but we’ve got a handful of guys. We’ve got probably two or three different directions we’ll go and then we’ll just see how it goes.”

Cody Barton played 31 snaps against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Justin Strnad and Kristian Welch played exclusively on special teams in Week 3, but one of them could be asked to start against the Jets.

“You can’t replace a guy like Alex, but I think you can rise up around him and help that loss out a little bit,” Nix said. “[I’m] definitely pulling for him with his recovery. We hope he has a great offseason and gets ready to go again. [It’s a] huge loss for us, but we’re going to continue to get better around him and make sure that we have what it takes on defense. Then offensively, we always just have to raise up our game and play better.”

The Broncos already had rookie Levelle Bailey on their practice squad and they added more depth on Wednesday by signing Kwon Alexander and Zach Cunningham to the practice squad. NFL teams can elevate two players from the practice squad to the game-day roster each week, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see Denver call up at least one LB this weekend.

“It’s a tough blow and a tough loss,” cornerback Pat Surtain said of losing Singleton. “Honestly he’s a key leader to our team. Losing a guy like that is pretty hard. Obviously everybody is rallying behind him. Our prayers are up to him. [We’re] wishing him a speedy recovery.

“He’ll be around helping the linebackers out. We’re going to miss him out there on the field, but it’s the next man up. It’s the next opportunity for other guys to step in and step up. I wish him nothing but the best on his recovery process.”

Whether it’s Strnad, Welch, Bailey, Alexander, Cunningham or some combination of all of them, the Broncos will need “the next man up” to fill some big shoes the rest of the season. Denver is also hopeful that Drew Sanders (Achilles) could return later this season, but that might be weeks or even months away from coming into play.

In the meantime, Strnad and Welch are likely the top contenders to start next to Barton in Week 4. It might take more than one game to sort out Singleton’s season-long replacement, but we’ll get our first look at the defense without the linebacker on Sunday afternoon.

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Broncos adding Zach Cunningham after losing Alex Singleton

After losing Alex Singleton to a torn ACL, the Broncos are adding LB Zach Cunningham to their practice squad.

The Denver Broncos are signing inside linebacker Zach Cunningham to their practice squad, KUSA-TV’s Mike Klis reported Wednesday.

Cunningham (6-3, 238 pounds) entered the league as a second-round pick out of Vanderbilt with the Houston Texans in 2017. After five years in Houston, Cunningham spent two seasons with the Tennessee Titans before playing for the Philadelphia Eagles last fall.

The 29-year-old linebacker has recorded 705 tackles, 23 pass breakups, 6.5 sacks, five forced fumbles, four fumble recoveries and one interception in 86 career starts.

Cunningham will give the team more depth at inside linebacker after starter Alex Singleton was lost to a torn ACL. Denver also signed Kwon Alexander to the practice squad on Wednesday. One or both of Alexander and Cunningham could be candidates to be elevated to the game-day roster for Sunday’s game against the New York Jets.

The Broncos had room for Cunningham on the practice squad after promoting running back Tyler Badie to the 53-man roster.

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Linebacker signed with Broncos after dominating them in preseason

Kristian Welch totaled 6 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 PBU and 1 INT against the Broncos in preseason. Denver signed him shortly thereafter.

When the Denver Broncos faced the Green Bay Packers in their second preseason game last month, Packers linebacker Kristian Welch totaled six tackles (including one behind the line of scrimmage), one pass breakup and one interception. He also played well in a joint practice against Denver.

After Welch failed to make Green Bay’s 53-man roster last week, the Broncos signed him. Welch’s performance against Denver wasn’t the only factor that led to his signing, but it certainly didn’t hurt.

“We still felt like inside linebacker was an area of need for us,” Broncos coach Sean Payton said Monday. “We went into kind of the final 53 cut down looking at that position. He was someone that stood out on film. Obviously, we had practice tape together with him, but more importantly, just the body of work for that player.”

Welch (6-3, 240 pounds) spent three years with the Baltimore Ravens before joining the Packers in 2023. The 26-year-old linebacker has been used primarily on special teams to this point in his career. After adding Welch, Denver’s 53-man roster for Week 1 is set.

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Broncos will ‘do right by’ LB Jonas Griffith with injury settlement

The Broncos will “do right” by Jonas Griffith and give him an injury settlement for his ACL surgery, coach Sean Payton said Monday.

When the Denver Broncos cut linebacker Jonas Griffith last week, he was not given an injury designation, implying that he was healthy. Three days after being released, though, Griffith announced that he needs to undergo ACL surgery on the same knee he injured last summer.

The Broncos are not retroactively placing Griffith on injured reserve, but coach Sean Payton said Monday that the team will “do right by” the linebacker through an injury settlement.

“This is tough,” Payton said. “[It’s] tough on him and tough on everyone. He went through the process of being released and then what’s a little bit unusual in his post-exam, they discovered more of an issue with his ACL. It wasn’t one event specific. In the end, there will be an injury settlement which is pretty common.

“What isn’t common is finishing the [pre]season playing like he did and then discovering that this is a little bit more significant than we thought. We’re going to certainly do right by the player and take care of him. He’s someone that’s busted his tail here for the better part of two years trying to stay healthy.”

Griffith missed eight games with a foot injury in 2022 and all of last season with a torn ACL. The 27-year-old linebacker totaled 92 tackles, five quarterback hits, one interception, one fumble recovery and one pass breakup in 22 games (12 starts) in Denver.

After reaching an injury settlement with the Broncos, Griffith will be a free agent, but he seems likely to miss the 2024 season following ACL surgery.

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Broncos sign linebacker Kristian Welch to 53-man roster

The Broncos have signed linebacker Kristian Welch to their 53-man roster. He has played 1,101 career snaps on special teams.

The Denver Broncos signed inside linebacker Kristian Welch to their 53-man roster on Thursday, the team announced.

To make room for Welch, Denver waived undrafted rookie linebacker Levelle Bailey. If he clears waivers, Bailey will presumably be a candidate to re-sign on the practice squad tomorrow (there’s one open spot remaining).

As for Welch, he is a fourth-year linebacker who entered the league as an undrafted free agent out of Iowa in 2020. After spending the first three years of his career with the Baltimore Ravens, Welch joined the Green Bay Packers last summer, initially on their practice squad.

Welch was later promoted to Green Bay’s active roster and he dressed for 14 games last fall, totaling six tackles. He has 27 career tackles in four seasons (57 games) in the NFL. Welch was likely signed primarily to contribute on special teams, where he has 1,101 career snaps.

Welch becomes the fourth inside linebacker on the 53-man roster, joining Alex Singleton, Cody Barton and Justin Strnad.

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