Drew

Sanders

The Broncos designated Sanders to return from injured reserve on January 10th, but he is not yet ready to play. He spent the regular season on injured reserve due to complications from a torn Achilles suffered in 2024.

The No. 1 seeded Broncos get the luxury of an additional week of preparation as they await their Division Round opponent, giving Sanders a legitimate chance to return for the team’s first postseason game. The third-year linebacker spent the entirety of the 2025 regular season on injured reserve after complications from a torn Achilles suffered in 2024.

Both Burton and Sanders will miss at least the first four weeks of the season before having a chance to return to their roles with Denver after October. Burton should return to his lead-blocking role once healthy, while Sanders adds to the linebacking depth.

Payton added that surgery could be an option for Sanders, but said the team is waiting to see on that. The third-year linebacker played in only four games last season due to a torn Achilles tendon he suffered in April, and now has another hurdle to overcome as he readies for the season. Sanders was a third-round pick of the Broncos’ back in 2023 and totaled 24 tackles and one TFL in 17 games as a rookie while making four starts. It seems likely at this point he will open the year on injured reserve but we’ll see how his recovery goes in the coming weeks.

Rapoport said only that the injury will keep Sanders “out an extended period of time.” The 24-year-old linebacker will undergo further testing to determine what’s next. Sanders was sidelined for much of the 2024 season after tearing his Achilles tendon in May 2024.

Sanders tore his Achilles in an April offseason workout program. It would be surprising if he immediately joined the Broncos linebacker room and got full-time snaps, but we may see the Broncos get his feet wet and decide what they want to do with him over the next few weeks. The 2023 third-rounder started four games last year and had 13 solo tackles while posting a rough 30.0 PFF tackling grade.

The report comes from NBC Houston’s Aaron Wilson, who notes the Broncos also moved S Caden Stearns (patellar tendon) and S Delarrin Turner-Yell (ACL) to the active/PUP list. Sanders ruptured his Achilles tendon in late April. Initial reports suggested the team was hopeful he could return before the 2024 season ends. His move to the active/PUP list, rather than the reserve/PUP list, is a positive step in this regard. Should he remain on the active/PUP list entering the regular season, he will be eligible to return against the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 5.

Per Mike Klis of Denver 9News, second-year linebacker Drew Sanders tore his Achilles in late April and has already undergone surgery to correct the ailment. That places the 2024 season in doubt for Sanders but the report states that the team in hopeful he can return before the end of the season. The standard six-to-eight-month recovery timetable for full Achilles tears leaves his expected return window some time from the end of October to the end of December, meaning it remains possible that Sanders could make it back in time for the end of the season. That said, there would be no reason to rush him back if the Broncos are out of postseason contention by that time. Sanders played a complementary role for the Broncos during his rookie season, managing just 258 defensive snaps, and was likely to serve in a similar capacity during his second year in the league.

A former five-star who was rated as the top overall recruit from the talent-laden state of Texas, Sanders (6’4/235) spent his first two seasons at EDGE for Alabama where he earned 336 part-time reps during his tenure. In 2022 he transferred to Arkansas where he earned unanimous All-American recognition and became the first linebacker in school history to be named a finalist for the Butkus Award. Despite the move to off-ball, Sanders’ pass rush prowess persisted, finishing second in the SEC with 9.5 sacks despite lining up outside on just 108 of his 846 snaps last year. His 39 pressures ranked fourth among all linebackers while his 77.8 PFF coverage grade was a solid mark, especially considering he was learning a new position. Despite picking up LB quickly, Sanders will still make some incorrect reads and has to improve as a finisher, which is reflected in his 19.7% missed tackle rate. He didn’t test at the Combine, but Sanders’ ability to bring heat from any angle is rare and sets him apart from his 2023 Draft contemporaries.

Sanders (6'5/244) played on a season-high 264 snaps for the Tide in 2021, and finished the year with 24 tackles and nine quarterback pressures. Unfortunately for the sophomore LB, he suffered a hand injury in Week 5 that resulted in him missing several weeks and in playing on just 34 defensive snaps from Weeks 10-13. Prior to joining Alabama, Sanders had been a a five-star linebacker from the 2020 recruiting class, and was ranked as the 22nd best player in his class per 247Sports’ composite rankings. Now at Arkansas, Sanders will look to rebound in 2022.