5 players who will step up for the Broncos after Alex Singleton injury

The Denver Broncos have lost inside linebacker, captain, and tackling machine Alex Singleton to a torn ACL, ending his 2024 season. The biggest question now is, who is going to replace him?

It's been a long year for the Broncos at the inside linebacker position, to say the least...

• Lost Josey Jewell to Panthers in free agency
• Drew Sanders torn Achilles in April
• Jonas Griffith torn ACL in preseason
• Alex Singleton torn ACL in Week 3

If there's one position the Broncos are really being snake-bitten right now, it's at the inside linebacker spot...

Broncos have options at LB after Alex Singleton injury

So, who is actually going to be playing linebacker for the Broncos on Sunday against the Jets, and going forward after that?

1. Cody Barton

Besides Singleton, the only other Broncos player to log at least 100 snaps at the off-ball linebacker position this season is free agent acquisition Cody Barton. Barton was curiously splitting snaps back in Week 1 with recent addition Kristian Welch, which had raised some interesting questions about the team's confidence in Barton overall.

2. Kristian Welch

Welch has played 30 total snaps defensively this season but his involvement in the defensive gameplan back in Week 1 is seemingly both a sign that the Broncos feel confident in his abilities as well as perhaps not overly confident in Cody Barton. Welch has more special teams experience than anything else at this point in his NFL career. Another three snaps, and he will have a new career-high in defensive snaps played.

3. Justin Strnad

Maybe the most likely longer-term replacement among the in-house options for Singleton is Justin Strnad, who played really well in the preseason for the Broncos. Strnad -- like Barton -- was with the Broncos from day one this offseason, but may have a leg up on everyone else in terms of being the guy with the green dot on his helmet relaying play calls from Vance Joseph. Strnad is the only guy available to the Broncos at inside linebacker who was on the team last year as well.

4. Kwon Alexander

Because he didn't play for Vance Joseph in New Orleans, it doesn't matter all that much that Kwon Alexander has history with Sean Payton. But it may have helped him land a job in Denver. The veteran and former Pro Bowl selection might immediately be the fastest linebacker on the roster for the Broncos, although he's technically starting off here on the practice squad. Because of the lack of experience from other players, I wouldn't be surprised to see Alexander in the rotation as early as Sunday.

5. Zach Cunningham

The Broncos added both Kwon Alexander and Zach Cunningham to the practice squad this week and Cunningham is probably the most highly decorated in the group as far as his NFL Draft status. A former second-round pick, Cunningham was once one of the NFL's most promising young linebackers with three straight seasons of 100-plus tackles and seven tackles for loss.

Cunningham played over 700 snaps for the Eagles last year and has been known throughout his NFL career for his run defense.

Bonus: Levelle Bailey

The Broncos actually kept Levelle Bailey on their initial 53-man roster at the beginning of the year, but he was quickly replaced by Kristian Welch. Even so, the Broncos obviously feel pretty strongly about Bailey, it just makes more sense to get guys with experience up from the practice squad, potentially.

We'll see what happens, but don't be surprised if the rookie free agent gets called up at some point.