Broncos linebacker Drew Sanders carted off at practice with apparent injury

A key young piece of the Broncos’ defense may have suffered another tough setback.

Toward the end of Denver’s second full day of training camp Saturday morning, third-year linebacker Drew Sanders was seen carted off the field with an apparent injury. Two staffers helped him into the locker room, as Sanders slung both arms over their shoulders, clearly unable to put much weight on his leg.

The origin of Sanders’ injury wasn’t seen.

A serious injury would mark another grueling chapter in Sanders’ tenure with the Broncos, and weaken an already injury-laden linebacker room. A former standout at Arkansas and a third-round pick by Denver in 2023, Sanders played limited snaps as a rookie and then tore his Achilles in April 2024, knocking him out for all but four games last season.

Broncos head coach Sean Payton told reporters shortly after practice Saturday that Sanders was getting an MRI and the team was waiting on results, but that he hadn’t suffered an injury to his Achilles.

Sanders shifted around in an uncertain role in his two seasons in Denver, splitting time both in the box and off the edge his first year. Payton has been adamant, this offseason, that Sanders will shift to inside linebacker, and he took heavy reps during offseason activities with both presumptive ILB starters Alex Singleton and Dre Greenlaw rehabbing from injury.

“We think he’s a pressure player, so obviously there’s ways where you can pressure that guy from a stack position or to an outside position,” Payton said of Sanders during OTAs. “But, yeah, he’s doing well handling it.”

Any extended absence for Sanders would further test the depth in Denver’s inside-linebacker room, perhaps the biggest question mark within a stacked defense. Greenlaw and Singleton played a combined six games in 2024 amid serious injury, and there’s little proven experience behind them besides Justin Strnad, who filled in for eight starts at ILB last year.