Denver Broncos LB Drew Sanders has reportedly suffered a torn Achilles and subsequently had successful surgery, per Mike Klis of Denver’s 9News.
“The Broncos have experienced a major setback of the offseason as second-year linebacker Drew Sanders has suffered a torn Achilles, sources told 9NEWS,” Klis wrote. “Sanders arrived for the Broncos’ offseason program in mid-April in excellent shape and determined to make a quantum leap as a defensive contributor in his second season. However, the injury occurred early in the Broncos’ offseason program – before the NFL Draft in late April — and subsequent surgery was deemed successful.
“While no timeline was placed on his recovery, similar injuries to other players lend hope Sanders could possibly return in the middle to late in the regular season.”
Sanders is entering just his second season in the NFL after being drafted by the Broncos in the third round last year. He only started four games for them in his rookie season and had 24 total tackles, 13 solo tackles, one tackle for loss, and a fumble recovery.
As Klis stated, Sanders appeared to be on the path to a much bigger role in 2024, but that is now in danger with the Achilles injury. He is only 23 years old, and the injury happened early in the offseason, but the typical recovery for this type of injury is 9-12 months.
Given that the Steelers play the Broncos in Week 2 of the upcoming season, they will almost certainly be without Sanders on their defense. They still have Alex Singleton and Cody Barton, who are the projected starters, but most inside linebacker rooms use a rotation these days to keep up with the various responsibilities of the position.
Just look at the Steelers last year. They entered the year with a solid three-man rotation and ended up needing to sign free agents and practice squad players to fill out the room over the last several weeks of the season.
The Steelers-Broncos game will be played in Denver on Sept. 15th, and there will be plenty of intrigue surrounding the matchup with the Russell Wilson and Sean Payton revenge match set to take place.
