Denver Broncos 5 most surprising players of the 2022 season

The Denver Broncos had a surprisingly bad 2022 season that ended with an altogether disheartening 5-12 record. The team’s disappointing record and continued playoff drought led to major changes with the coaching staff.

As disappointing as the season was, there were some unexpected twists and turns with the roster and expectations that were either unmet or just completely turned on their heads as a whole. Which players were the most surprising — for better or worse — in 2022? Let’s take a look at the top five.

Denver Broncos most surprising players in 2022

1. Alex Singleton, linebacker

If it weren’t for unmet expectations, Alex Singleton probably would have graded out as the most “surprising” player on the Denver Broncos entire roster in 2022. In a good way, that is. Look, many of us — myself included and perhaps first and foremost — must eat crow regarding the opinions we shared about Singleton over the course of the 2022 offseason.

Eagles fans were not sad to see Singleton leave after last season despite having over 100 tackles in each of the last couple of years, and those opinions along with the fact that Singleton’s contract was barely worth that of a Day 3 draft pick led to assumptions that he would be limited to a special teams role.

Fortunately, those preconceived notions were proven very wrong. Singleton ended up leading the Broncos with 163 total tackles, he had six tackles for loss, and he added three pass breakups as well as a forced fumble. He was not only effective on special teams, but he became one of the team’s top playmakers defensively.

If anyone has earned another contract in Denver in 2023 among the team’s unrestricted free agents, it’s Singleton.