Gut Reaction: How Drew Sanders' Injury Impacts Broncos' Defensive Outlook

On Monday, we learned that Denver Broncos second-year linebacker Drew Sanders suffered an Achilles tear in April. While the team holds out hope that Sanders can return by mid-season, the odds aren't in his favor.

Even if Sanders is rushed back and returns to the field, he won't be himself for some time yet. We don't know the severity of his Achilles tear, but such injuries take time to heal and the psyche also needs time to rebuild confidence.

The Sky is NOT Falling

Some Broncos fans immediately reverted back to the time-honored tradition of viewing the first serious injury of a season as a harbinger of worse things to come. It's understandable, considering how badly snake-bitten Denver was over a four-year stretch before Sean Payton was hired as head coach.

But Payton's arrival turned the injury ship around for the Broncos. Hiring strength and conditioning coach Dan Dalrymple and a VP in Beau Lowery to manage the team's sports science, nutrition, strength, and conditioning approach, Payton's moves paid immediate dividends for the Broncos.

That doesn't mean the Broncos are impervious to the vagaries of the injury bug, nor does it preclude them from the realities and risks of elite 200-pound-plus athletes running around, jumping, cutting, exploding, and hitting each other. But Payton's vision, as executed by Lowery and Dalrymple, did what it was designed to do: mitigate those risks.

If you ask any Broncos fan about their perception of the 2023 season, I doubt many would offer up anything about poor injury luck. And yet, the Broncos lost three key players during offseason or training camp activities. Lineback Jonas Griffith, wideout Tim Patrick, and safety Caden Sterns were lost for the season, while young tight end Greg Dulcich's bothersome hamstring injuries lingered throughout the campaign.

However, the Broncos weathered the storm, and going into the final frame of the season, the team's offensive line continuity was emblematic of how Payton had stanched the injury-bug bleeding. Not one player from the Broncos' starting five missed a game until right tackle Mike McGlinchey was held out of the season finale. Had Denver been playoff-relevant in Week 18, he probably would have played.

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Impact on the Defense

So as disappointing as Sanders' injury is, there's no reason to let it cast a pall over one's outlook on the Broncos' 2024 season. The question now is, how does the injury impact the defense?

It would seem that the Broncos have already made plans to adapt to Sanders' absence. Those plans coalesced in the form of drafting Utah edge rusher Jonah Elliss in the third round last month.

The Broncos were planning on moving Sanders to outside linebacker, after he spent his rookie season inside. The position switch makes sense, even if comes with some risk.

Sanders proved to be a productive pass rusher in college, totaling 9.5 sacks in his final season at Arkansas. He's a twitchy athelte who can explode on the quarterback. All he needs is the training to cultivate a tool-kit of pass-rushing moves and technical refinement.

That training will be put on hold while he recovers from his injury. Meanwhile, the Broncos are moving forward with a young outside linebacker corps that on one hand, is conspicuously absent a 'Batman' type pass rusher, while on the other, is oozing potential.

Jonathon Cooper led the team with 8.5 sacks last year, followed by Nik Bonitto with eight. Baron Browning, after missing a good chunk of the season, contributed 4.5 sacks, bringing the trio's total to 21 in 2023. Elliss adds some unqiue traits to the room, led by his never-stop motor.

The Broncos hoped to see development out of Sanders in Year 2, obviously. But nobody was pinning the team's defensive destiny on him. The Broncos' rush linebacker corps will take a sum-of-its-part approach in 2024.

On the inside, Denver prepared for life without Josey Jewell by signing Cody Barton in free agency. And with Griffith returning from a season lost to injury, the Broncos have their top-3 inside linebackers locked in, with the leader being the tackling machine extraordinaire Alex Singleton. Sanders would maybe have contributed to that group as a reserve 'floater,' as it were, in the event of injuries requiring it.

And with three productive guys ahead of Sanders on the OLB depth chart, he had his work cut out for him when it came to seeing the field. If his development took root, and he built some momentum, no doubt, he would garner snaps. But if 'ifs and buts' were candy and nuts, we all would have a Merry Christmas.

Bottom Line

Again, it hurts to lose a young player with a seemingly bright future during OTAs. But despite his third-round pedigree, make no mistake: Sanders was poised for a reserve role on defense.

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