Broncos veteran linebacker Dre Greenlaw was a known scratch to open up the season as he dealt with a quad issue, but with Week 3 about to be played out, Greenlaw is still nowhere close to coming back. Denver had been hoping to avoid placing Greenlaw on any injured lists, but it was forced to bite the bullet today and make the decision to land Greenlaw on injured reserve. 
The quad issue came about five months ago and has continued to limit the team’s offseason addition. Per Mike Klis of 9NEWS, the new target date for Greenlaw’s return is a Week 7 matchup against the Giants in mid-October.
It’s hard to say if he would’ve had to sit out that long regardless of when he was placed on an injured list, but by not placing him on IR sooner, the Broncos have ensured that Greenlaw will now miss almost half of the regular season. This comes after Greenlaw missed almost all of the 2024 season — an absence stemming from the Achilles tear he sustained in Super Bowl LVIII.
Denver gave Greenlaw a three-year, $31.5MM deal on Day 1 of the legal tampering period. The veteran linebacker kept his Broncos pledge despite a last-ditch 49ers push, but largely due to his 2024 absences, the longtime Fred Warner sidekick only received $11.5MM guaranteed at signing. The Broncos can get out of this deal for just $4.33MM in 2026 dead money by releasing Greenlaw before a $2MM roster bonus is due on Day 5 of the 2026 league year. As it stands, Greenlaw looks likely to need a strong second half to remain on this contract next season.
The Broncos returned a top-five defense but were counting on two starting ILBs coming back from injury. While Alex Singleton has returned to regular duty following his September 2024 ACL tear, Greenlaw remains sidelined. Denver has not made any linebacker additions in-season, relaying on 2024 Singleton fill-in Justin Strnad — re-signed in March — to take Greenlaw’s place. That combination did not fare especially well against the Colts in Week 2, and Greenlaw’s absence will likely continue to be felt moving forward.
The team could have some help by Week 5, with ILB Drew Sanders on short-term IR, but the oft-injured defender is not certain to be ready to return from foot surgery by then. Practice squad linebacker Garret Wallow will help provide some depth at the position as a standard gameday practice squad elevation for the second week in a row. Fullback Adam Prentice will also be elevated from the practice squad again.
This is actually Prentice’s third time getting called up as an elevation. Because of the three-game limit for practice squad elevations, if Denver would like to see Prentice in any more games after this, they’ll need to sign him to the active roster. After doing so, they can cut him after the game and re-sign him back to the practice squad, at which point he would be eligible for three new elevations.