ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Growing up, Alex Singleton found inspiration and happiness every day from his older sister Ashley.
When he was cut five times within the first calendar year as a pro, he kept going. When he had to play three years in the Canadian Football League before he got his next opportunity, he felt not exiled but gratitude. When he finally got his chance again to play in the NFL, he was not resentful when the Philadelphia Eagles would not even offer a guaranteed minimum offer after he had led the team in tackles in 2021. He thanked them for the opportunity and took a minimum-wage contract with the Broncos.
When he didn’t get a first-team rep in his first training camp at Dove Valley in 2022, he kept showing up, filled in for an injured player and hustled his way for a whopping 21 tackles. When the injured linebacker returned, Singleton went back to making tackles on special teams when the linebacker.
Tackle after tackle, role after role, Singleton persistently flashes a 100-watt smile as the game plays. His sister taught him that no matter what the circumstance, life is worth smiling about.
“My older sister Ashley has Down’s Syndrome,’’ Singleton said in an interview with 9NEWS this week for the Broncos Huddle. “And she’s my oldest sister so I’ve grown up with it and don’t really know anything different. I think she’s the greatest person in the world. Probably another reason why I always have a smile is I know how much she loves sports and everything she’s done in her life.
“So to be able to play a sport for a living and be able to do what I do, how can I not enjoy every single second with what I see her and her friends go through on a daily basis just to get through a day? They enjoy it. They’re always smiling, they’re happy. So for me not to be it would almost be detrimental to everything.”
Ashley competes in swimming and bowling. Alex competes on Sundays as a starting inside linebacker alongside Josey Jewell for the Broncos. Singleton pulled off a rarity last season when he first registered 21 tackles in a game against the Los Angeles Chargers when he was filling in for the injured Jewell, and another 20-tackle game during the team’s otherwise embarrassing Christmas Day loss against the Rams when he replaced the injured Jonas Griffith.
Finally, Singleton got his just financial reward with a three-year, $18 million contract in Marcyh. Whether NFL poor, or handsomely paid, Singleton smiles as he plays.
“I mean I think I have the best job in the world,’’ he said. “One, I never want that taken away, and two, on game day, that’s the most fun day of the week. All week is thinking. Learning what they’re doing, all that stuff. You’ve got to enjoy that process but Sundays, that’s my favorite day of the week. I’ll never stop smiling on Sundays because that’s when you do what you do and I enjoy that more than anything.”
Singleton led the Denver defense with 8 tackles in the season opener against the Raiders and would have had a sack for a 7-yard loss in the second against Washington’s Sam Howell but it was negated by a penalty against Broncos’ edge rusher Nik Bonitto for grabbing a face mask. Singleton would have more tackles than his 11 through two games but defensive coordinator Vance Joseph has often sent him in on a blitz.
“I think a lot of inside linebackers now, you’re either covering or blitzing,’’ Singleton said. “People aren’t running power and iso (runs) anymore.’’
There is an art to blitzing, a technique involved.
“You’ve got to time it up,’’ Singleton said. “A lot of it is timing. Obviously, I’m not a 300-pound guy and if you locked on one of those guards or tackles it’s hard to get off it. We don’t look like D-tackles for a reason. We don’t look like D-ends for a reason. So to beat them with speed and quickness through that first level you get there by timing. You time up motions, time up the cadence, the stuff you learn throughout a game.
“And then once you get through, usually you’re one-on-one with a back and that’s just -- you’re going at it all day and you’ve got to win.”
He may wind up with a double-digit tackle game Sunday against the Dolphins. Their head coach, Mike McDaniel, is a disciple of the Shanahan family – first Mike in 2005 and then Kyle for most of his coaching career. And the Shanahan zone-blocking run scheme will gash defenses if linebackers are slow to fill the holes.
Singleton does not plan on being slow to the holes.
“That’s what nice, we’ve played the 9ers a couple times,’’ Singleton said of the Shanahans current team, the San Francisco 49ers. “We know what they’re going to do. It’s just taking all the formations, all the different stuff they’re going to throw at you, and put them all in the box and learn from what they’re going to do and play fast because it’s a fast football team.’’
Singleton will not retreat from the challenge of stopping the prolific Miami offense. Not after growing up around the relentless positive spirit of his sister Ashley. Not after the wayward journey he took to finally having a cubicle with his name plate reserved for him as he walks into an NFL locker room.
“From Montana State I went to Seattle undrafted, I went there because the assistant linebacker coach liked me and you know how much pull an assistant coach has on the totem pole –not much,’’ Singleton said when asked to review his professional journey. “So I got cut from there and it was between 10 and 13 times that season I bounced around with different teams (five times cut) and I bounced around on practice squads.
“Then I went up to Canada after that and spent three years up there. Three amazing years and I learned how to become a pro there and then after that I went to Philadelphia, had to earn a spot there. I was released originally but worked my way to being on the team and been active (on the 53-man roster) ever since.
“I came to Denver just for the opportunity to be on the team. I was guaranteed one year which to me was the biggest contract I ever had so I was excited and just took advantage of it.”
Just thinking of his story should make Broncos Country smile.
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