Alex Singleton sees your DMs.
He cannot respond to them all, of course. They come in hordes, from men and their wives and girlfriends across the world, people who have been stung with the same shock as he got after a visit to a urologist three weeks ago. It has been a whirlwind, Singleton admitted Wednesday. But he has not gotten swept away. He sees them.
With those messages comes responsibility, the 31-year-old Singleton knows. On his first day back practicing in Denver, weeks after surgery to remove a testicular tumor, a reporter asked him Wednesday: “Do you consider yourself an inspiration?”
The Broncos linebacker smiled, choosing his words carefully, well aware of the impact they could bring.
“It’s kinda not the greatest thing to talk about,” Singleton said, midway through a long response. “People don’t like talking about that area of their bodies, especially men. So, being able to stand here and do that, do I think it’s inspirational? I don’t know.
“But do I think I have a platform that I can share what I’m going through, to make sure everybody else understands that it’s OK, and to go to the doctor, and that early detection is good for you.”
A few weeks after finding out he had testicular cancer, a whirlwind of testing and waiting and more testing, Singleton resumed practicing Wednesday. He tugged back on a uniform with plenty of weight on his shoulder pads. Back as the green-dot signal-caller of this league-altering Broncos defense.
Now, too, a new face of national awareness for testicular cancer, after making an appearance on ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Tuesday.
Between the white lines, though, one can let everything go, as Singleton said Wednesday. And the linebacker was simply happy to be back in uniform, a 31-year-old man who still describes himself as “like a little kid in this game.”
“The ACL was enough to appreciate it — I don’t know if I needed this,” Singleton said, chuckling, Wednesday, referring to his comeback from a torn ACL in 2024. “But you definitely appreciate all the little things. And, so, yeah. I love this game. Practice was the best.”
Head coach Sean Payton said the Broncos knew before last week’s bye that Singleton would be cleared for practice during Commanders week. And Singleton now has a real shot to make an appearance against Washington on Sunday Night Football — less than three weeks after announcing a cancer diagnosis — saying Wednesday he was “tracking” toward playing.
“The scans and all of that stuff were important, and when those came back positive, man, the relief, just for Alex — never mind the football player,” Payton said.
Indeed, despite his love for the game, there was a brief stretch where football didn’t matter a lick, as Singleton indicated. He’d talked to doctors about life possibilities, in general. Chemotherapy. Fertility. If he could have more children (he has one daughter, Tallyn).
He still doesn’t like saying the word “cancer” often, Singleton joked Wednesday. He’s still processing the last few weeks. He’s still undergoing testing to continue to make sure the disease hasn’t spread.
In the meantime, he will return to football as an advocate after his life has changed forever.
“It’s gonna be special,” Singleton said of playing again. “The ACL is — you come back from those. Everyone comes back from those now.
“But yeah, not a lot of cancer research on coming back and playing football.”
Want more Broncos news? Sign up for the Broncos Insider to get all our NFL analysis.