Building an NFL team has to be one of the hardest things to do in professional sports, and it's so difficult to sustain success in this league. We have seen the Denver Broncos rise to near the top of the NFL world since the start of the 2024 NFL Season.
The Broncos have gotten to this point thanks to elite coaching, great drafting, and overall strong roster building. Denver is still good enough to win the Super Bowl this year despite their Week 16 loss - there is simply so much parity in the NFL that a loss was bound to happen. Anyway, the Broncos were a bit aggressive in free agency this past offseason, trying to shore up some weak spots.
And while this player has been quite good when on the field in 2025, he has to be hanging on for dear life with the Denver Broncos, as he seems to be staring down yet another injury, and it's just not ideal.
There is no way Dre Greenlaw's Broncos' future is not way up in the air, at best
Late in Week 16, Dre Greenlaw left the game and was quickly ruled out with a hamstring injury. The Denver Broncos did not practice on Monday, but if they would have, Greenlaw would have not practiced. Here was Denver's Monday injury report:
Monday's #DENvsKC injury report:
— Denver Broncos (@Broncos) December 22, 2025
Note: We did not practice today, so this report is an estimation.
📰 » https://t.co/FLReMR0n6a pic.twitter.com/gZ9Y2K0nBV
Greenlaw missed the first six games of the 2025 NFL Season with a quad injury, was suspended for one game, and is now perhaps at huge risk of not playing in Week 17 due to a hamstring injury. In the offseason, he signed a three-year deal with the Denver Broncos worth $31.5 million. The deal contains just $11.5 million in guarantees, and while it is a three-year deal, Denver can actually move on quite easily from the contract this coming offseason.
He also has no more guaranteed money after this year, so while the deal was for three seasons, it was clearly constructed as a one-year 'prove it' deal. If Greenlaw is again set to miss one or more games, perhaps risking missing a playoff game, the Denver Broncos would have to make a huge decision here.
They could simply decide to start fresh in the ILB room. I would personally love to see Justin Strnad back on a new deal, but starting fresh otherwise would make a lot of sense. Dre Greenlaw is an excellent player, but he's not stayed on the field consistently - this was a huge concern before arriving in Denver, and it's still a concern now.
No matter how good he can be, not being able to stay on the field is a huge issue.