There are always going to be a lot of players under pressure for NFL teams when it comes to training camp and annual roster turnover. For the Denver Broncos, a handful of recent draft picks are reaching the proverbial fork in the road, including 2023 third-round pick Drew Sanders.
Sanders is one of the players under the most pressure in 2025 as he enters his third NFL season. The Broncos have a "vision" for every player they draft, but it's fair to say that the vision for Drew Sanders has been as unclear as any recent draft pick for the team. Sanders played one year as an off-ball linebacker at Arkansas where he was an All-American, but he came to the NFL very raw with strong traits.
The Broncos decided to move him to the edge rusher position to maximize his abilities as a "pressure player" and Sanders put on some weight entering year two. He suffered an Achilles injury during offseason workouts, and wound up coming back late last season. Although Sanders flashed his traits once again, he was moved back to the off-ball linebacker position and thrown into the one competition that lacks clarity more than any other on this roster.
Drew Sanders hanging on by a thread entering year three with Broncos?
The Broncos added Dre Greenlaw in NFL Free Agency this offseason to upgrade the linebacker position, but he's been recovering from a pulled quad. Veteran Alex Singleton figures to pencil in as the other starting linebacker, but he's recovering from a torn ACL last season.
Justin Strnad has a season of starting experience as a major advantage over Sanders, and it feels like wishful thinking at this point that the team is going to be able to carve out a role for a guy who was a high draft choice.
You can't expect a 100 percent hit rate in the NFL Draft, by any means, but for a guy like Sanders, the Broncos have proven they may have drafted a guy for his traits as opposed to his ability to help a football team. Sanders will have to play a core role on special teams this coming season, but how will the team handle trying to get him into a starting competition at linebacker?
Sanders will have to have a monstrous training camp to even be a factor in the defensive plans this year. Is it possible that Sanders misses out on the roster completely? I don't see any reason beyond draft status at this point why he would be guaranteed to make the team.
The Broncos have a number of recent undrafted players they like at linebacker. They have plenty of depth off the edge. As talented as Sanders is, the Broncos might have reached for him and they need him to have a strong camp to justify his roster spot going forward.