It wasn't that long ago that Drew Sanders was the first defensive player drafted by the Denver Broncos in the Sean Payton era. Now, his future with the organization is hanging in the balance before it even gets started.
Sanders, the 67th overall selection in the 2023 NFL Draft out of Arkansas, was supposed to be a major steal for the Broncos in the draft, and an athletic option to finally end the team's longstanding woes at the inside linebacker position.
Sanders was an All-American at Arkansas who transferred to the Razorbacks' program after failing to earn snaps behind Will Anderson Jr. off the edge at Alabama. He wound up making an extremely successful switch to linebacker, and the Broncos took a risk on his upside. Up to this point, it simply hasn't paid off.
Injuries have defined the first three years of Sanders' NFL career so far, and now, the Broncos have a loaded group off the edge, where Sanders will compete during camp.
Drew Sanders could be entering his last training camp with the Denver Broncos
During OTAs and mandatory minicamp, Payton was asked about whether the vision for Sanders had changed at all. His answer was interesting, to say the least:
“Fair question. He’s doing well out here playing an edge position. He’s instinctive. He’s at one of those positions [where] it’s hard to evaluate with what we’re doing right now. He can get the alignment, the assignment, all of that. There’s a young player that, knock on wood, we feel like is really talented, and stay healthy and really get a good… This is one of the offseasons he’s coming into this portion of training camp healthy, so I’m encouraged with that.”
- Sean Payton (via Broncos PR)
Since his arrival in 2023, Sanders has changed positions for the Broncos three times. He came to Denver as an off-ball linebacker, then transitioned to the edge rusher position. He then moved back to inside linebacker last year, only to be changed back to an edge rusher in 2026. That's a lot of back and forth for a guy trying to make his way in the league, to the point that it almost feels like the Broncos owe it to him to stick it out with him.
But that's not how the NFL works, and never has been.
As a high third-round pick, and the second pick of that particular draft class for the Broncos, Sanders has been expected to eventually start for this team. No draft pick is guaranteed to work out, but the higher the pick, the greater the expectations are. And that's why, entering his fourth season, media members are still asking about Sanders in the first place. It's also why Sanders is still on the team, fighting for a roster spot.
The edge rusher group for the Broncos is extremely deep, and other players are already stealing headlines this offseason. Jonah Elliss has looked like a stud, Vance Joseph said Que Robinson has future starter traits, and the team brought back Dondrea Tillman after two years of nice production in the rotation.
As unfortunate as the situation is with starter Jonathon Cooper, that could also provide an additional inroad for the Broncos to keep Sanders around for the final year of his rookie contract. The team typically keeps five edge rushers, so if they went with a group that included Nik Bonitto, Elliss, Robinson, and Tillman, Sanders could be the 5th guy.
Time will tell how Cooper's off-field situation will play out, but it's something everyone is keeping close tabs on as the offseason progresses.
It's interesting that the Broncos are having Sanders play off the edge in a make-or-break training camp. They made that decision before anything transpired off the field with Cooper, so given the depth at that position group, it almost seems like they were going to be fine saying goodbye to Sanders before the offseason even got started.
Entering training camp, it feels like Sanders' hopes of sticking around in Denver are hanging by a thread.
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