Drew Sanders is facing yet another injury setback in his young NFL career.
The Broncos linebacker tore a tendon in his right foot during Saturday’s practice, a source confirmed to The Denver Post on Sunday afternoon.
Sanders needed a cart ride from the practice field to the team’s facility when the injury happened. When fellow linebacker Justin Strnad came over to check on him, the third-year linebacker simply responded with a thumbs-down signal.
The subsequent imaging showed tendon damage. The team and Sanders are still working through exactly what the treatment plan will look like and whether he’ll need surgery, a source said, so the exact timeframe for his recovery and potential return is not yet known.
Still, Sanders is expected to miss a significant amount of time, including into the regular season.
A third-round pick in 2023, Sanders played 14 games his rookie year but then tore his Achilles in the spring of 2024 and missed all but four games last fall.
He has bounced back and forth from inside linebacker to the edge, but had settled inside this offseason and looked to be off to a strong start through the offseason program and the very early days of training camp.
Sanders hadn’t fully settled into being a full-time, middle-of-the-field player in the NFL, but his athleticism shows just about every time he’s on the field. His first defensive snap last fall came on a third-down pass-rush against the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 16 and he recorded a sack.
The Broncos are counting on healthy returns from veterans Alex Singleton and Dre Greenlaw on the top line at inside linebacker. They also re-signed Strnad to a one-year deal back in the spring and have a host of young players competing for spots. That includes second-year man Levelle Bailey — he recorded an interception on Saturday and made several splash plays in coverage — and undrafted rookies JB Brown, Karene Reid and Jordan Turner.
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