This was about money, sure. More so, this was about a locker room. And a chance to be Batman, not Robin to Fred Warner. And most of all, about being valued — the concept that Dre Greenlaw has held dear since his beginnings in football.
“It was like, ‘Man, we want you to be here,’ and – I was a foster kid growing up, so it’s not a lot of times that people just wanted me, you know what I’m saying?” Greenlaw said of the Broncos’ pursuit of him, back in July. “So, it just made me feel special. It made me feel like, this is the place where I needed to be.”
The 28-year-old inside linebacker had spent six years in San Francisco. But after he played just two games in 2024, the 49ers initially offered him a one-year deal at the start of free agency, Greenlaw’s adopted father Brian Early told The Denver Post on Thursday.
“They weren’t willing to put a three-year deal on the table for him, at this point in his career,” Early said. “But Denver did. And then (the 49ers) come back and try to put that type of offer on the table for him … at that point, the damage is done.”
Ever since, through a long road rehabbing from an April quad tear, Greenlaw has burned to make good on the Broncos’ $11.5 million guarantee to him. To actually lead by example, as agent J.R. Carroll put it in late September, rather than just his voice. To play football again, the sport that’s become his outlet.
But he’s accepted playing this slow.
“He understands that, shoot, they might be frustrated with the process too, being the money that’s invested in him,” said Early, who’s now the assistant edge coach at Mizzou and is still in regular contact with Greenlaw. “And he gets that stuff.
“But he’s not gonna feel so much pressure that he’s gonna put himself in harm’s way.”
After months of uncertainty around his recovery — from head coach Sean Payton dubbing Greenlaw’s timeline “nebulous” to the Broncos deciding in Week 3 to put him on injured reserve — the linebacker’s debut in Denver is imminent. It appears likely to happen either this week or next, if defensive coordinator Vance Joseph is to be believed. Either way, the reins won’t be completely off; Joseph said Greenlaw will probably start in a part-time role.
Still, Early told The Post that Greenlaw is back to feeling “his normal self,” and is anxious to return. He’s a player, outside linebacker Nik Bonitto said back in August, that “you can definitely feel” when he’s on turf. Joseph echoed that sentiment two months later.
“Once he gets out there, you will feel him,” Joseph said Thursday. “Everyone will.”
The Broncos took a long-term approach to Greenlaw’s recovery after a flare-up in July, and worked him back for a limited practice on Friday, Sept. 12, two days before a Week 2 matchup with the Indianapolis Colts.
Just as Greenlaw appeared to be ramping up, though, he was scratched from three straight practices and then placed on injured reserve a day before the Broncos’ Week 3 matchup with the Chargers. The reason, Early explained: Greenlaw suffered a setback while sprinting and testing out his quad.
The result was a short-term stint on injured reserve, after he’d already played just two games in 2024 while rehabbing from a torn Achilles.
“It’s been a long, hard road,” Early said. “When you combine that, being ready to return to play, and then suffering that quad injury — I know it’s just been a long process to get back on the field for him.
“And it was frustrating with the lack of progress for that quad, or any type of setbacks that he might’ve had in the rehabilitation process. And he’s been out longer than anticipated.”
The organization, Carroll previously told The Post, had kept Greenlaw reined in so he didn’t reinjure himself. Previous context was at play here, too.
In his sophomore year at Arkansas in 2016, Greenlaw suffered a fracture of the fifth metatarsal in his foot, as Early recalled. He had surgery, was ruled out for the remainder of the season, and then healed up in time for that season’s Belk Bowl against Virginia Tech.
Then he re-fractured the same foot in the loss to Virginia Tech.
This time around, Greenlaw accepted a more deliberate approach to recovery.
“I think Dre’s at a point in his career where he understands that,” Early said. “If this was his rookie year or his second year, he may be trying to rush that back, and knows that he could — he’s done that before.”
The Broncos have managed to steady the middle of their defense without him, with Justin Strnad proving himself worthy of specialty-package snaps even upon Greenlaw’s return. If he does finally make a long-anticipated debut within the next three weeks, though, his presence could take the Broncos’ unit to “an even better level,” outside linebacker Jonathon Cooper said this week.
“Just listening to the sound of his voice when we talk from time to time, I think this fresh start has been good for him,” Early said. “Just, new environment, new teammates, new coaches, new system, just new everything. I think that’s kinda rejuvenated him a little bit.
“I know you guys haven’t been able to see that and experience it, because he hasn’t been on the field yet,” Early continued. “But you will.”
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