The Broncos lost inside linebacker Alex Singleton to a torn ACL but did bring in two new faces at the position. At long last, I finally get to see Kwon Alexander on the Denver Broncos. The team also signed Zach Cunningham. Both players will begin on the practice squad, but with Singleton now out for the year, I would assume that at least one of Alexander or Cunningham is going to be elevated for the team's Week 4 game.
The neat thing here is that Alexander as recently played for the New York Jets, so he could have some valuable intel to provide. The ILB position in the NFL is interesting. There are a good bit of very good, even elite inside linebackers in the NFL, but there are also a ton of household names at the position that seem to have already declined.
It's odd; both Alexander and Cunningham were arguably the best at their positon perhaps just a handful of years ago but now struggle to find an NFL team. Even Devin White, and inside linebacker still in his mid-20s, quickly fell out of favor with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and has been a healthy scratch for the Philadelphia Eagles this year.
Anyway, what do you need to know about Kwon Alexander and Zach Cunningham?
Kwon Alexander, 30, was a fourth-round draft pick out of LSU in the 2015 NFL Draft. He began his career with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, made the Pro Bowl in 2017, and played for Sean Payton and the New Orleans Saints in 2020 and 2021 for a total of 19 games. Alexander has played just two full seasons in his career. He's been injury-prone, but does come with some explosiveness at the position.
Alexander has played in 104 career regular season games and has 13.5 sacks, 631 total tackles, and 54 tackles for loss.
Zach Cunningham, 29, was a second-round pick by the Houston Texans in the 2017 NFL Draft out of Vanderbilt. He's also played for the Tennessee Titans and Philadelphia Eagles. Across his career, Cunningham has played in 95 regular season games. He's racked up 6.5 sacks, 705 total tackles, and 31 tackles for loss.
Cunningham is definitely not a player the Broncos should drop into coverage much. He's best at stopping the run. Fortunately, Broncos' current ILB Cody Barton is adequate in coverage.
Both Kwon Alexander and Zach Cunningham are still quality NFL players and each come with a unique skillset. The hope here is that a combination of both players is plenty enough to fill the void left by Alex Singleton.