Broncos suffer shocking blow to defense with Alex Singleton ACL injury

The Denver Broncos have been relatively fortunate in the injury department since Sean Payton became the team's head coach, but not after their Week 3 matchup against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Although nobody knew about it -- including the Broncos -- until he reported some soreness after the game, linebacker Alex Singleton suffered a serious knee injury during the game against the Bucs and will now miss the remainder of the 2024 season.

Singleton suffered a torn ACL against the Bucs and, according to head coach Sean Payton, actually played about two-thirds of the game with the injury just assuming he was having some discomfort in the knee.

Alex Singleton suffers torn ACL in Broncos Week 3 win vs. Buccaneers

Payton, in his media availability on Wednesday, said that he's never seen anyone play as long as Singleton did with an injury of that nature. He said that Singleton still felt like he could play another game that same night, so obviously the injury took some time to make itself known. Payton said that there was swelling the next day when they decided to go have a closer look through an MRI, which revealed the terrible news.

Singleton has been an outstanding pickup for the Denver Broncos since he signed in 2022 and not only has developed into a starter, but a team captain. Singleton has racked up a whopping 371 total tackles in his three years with the Broncos, and that number includes just three games in 2024. He's been nothing short of a tackling machine and Singleton also had the team's first turnover of the year, an interception off of Geno Smith in Week 1.

The loss of Singleton shouldn't fly under the radar, by any means. Not only is he a captain and tackling machine, but Singleton is also the guy with the green dot on his helmet out there relaying the defensive play calls. It's going to be up to someone else -- perhaps Cody Barton, Justin Strnad, or Kristian Welch -- to take on those responsibilities going forward.

To say the Broncos have been snake-bitten at linebacker this year would be a major understatement. The team lost Josey Jewell to the Panthers in free agency after nearly also losing Justin Strnad to the Panthers. They lost Drew Sanders just before the 2024 NFL Draft with an injury that could cost him the entire 2024 season. They lost Jonas Griffith with a knee injury at the end of the preseason. Now, they no longer have Alex Singleton in the mix.

If there is a silver lining here for the Broncos, it's that Justin Strnad had an absolutely outstanding preseason for the team. Strnad was routinely one of the team's highest-graded players in the preseason and could end up being a breakout player in Alex Singleton's place. The Broncos also really like the guy they brought in from the Packers -- Kristian Welch -- who has played 30 snaps in the first three weeks defensively.

Additionally, the Broncos brought in veteran help at the linebacker position with the additions of both Kwon Alexander and Zach Cunningham to the practice squad. It wouldn't be surprising to see at least one of them activated against the Jets.