WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. — There are injuries and there are devastating heartbreaks.
The Broncos have lost their leading tackler Alex Singleton for the rest of the season as the star inside linebacker suffered a torn ACL, head coach Sean Payton said Wednesday.
Here’s a remarkable testament to Singleton’s courage and toughness: Singleton suffered the injury during the second defensive series in the first quarter of the Broncos’ 26-7 win Sunday at Tampa Bay. Payton said it happened on Brandon Jones' first interception, which was the eighth defensive play of the game.
Yet Singleton stayed in to play all 57 snaps and finished with a team-most 10 tackles. It was the 34th time since the start of the 2020 season that Singleton had at least 10 tackles in a game, second-most in the league.
Alas, there will be no more double-digit tackle games for Singleton this year.
"Yeah, look, we lose a really good football player, a captain, a leader,'' Payton said in an interview with 9NEWS for the Broncos Huddle (6:3 p.m. Friday, 9NEWS). "He's someone that -- I just finished telling the team -- he's guy that made other people around him really good. We'll have a plan relative to who fills in for him. And it'll be up to the other 10 guys on the field also to pick up the slack.
"It was unusual in that it happened fairly early in the game. With an ACL usually it's immediate. He was asymptomatic and then after the game we did an exam, went and had an MRI and ... it's tough news."
It was a non-contact injury on a Raymond James Stadium playing field that was not in the best shape after the 8th-ranked Miami Hurricanes crushed the South Florida Bulls, 50-15, the night before in a Saturday college game.
"It's a tough blow, a tough loss,'' said Broncos' cornerback Pat Surtain II. "Honestly, he's a key leader to our team and losing a guy like that, it's pretty hard. Obviously, everybody's rallying behind him. Our prayers are up to him. Wish him a speedy recovery. He's around, helping the linebackers out so, yeah, we're going to miss him out there on the field but it's the next man up. It's the next opportunity for other guys to step in and step up."
Singleton, 30, was undrafted out of Montana State in 2015. After he was cut by three teams (Seattle, New England and Minnesota) in his rookie season without playing in a game, he was drafted by the Calgary Stampeders in the first round of the 2016 Canadian Football League draft. He played three years for Calgary before the Philadelphia Eagles gave him another shot in the NFL in 2019.
Singleton had 120 and 137 tackles for the Eagles in 2020 and ‘21, became a free agent and signed a one-year deal with the Broncos. He led the team in 2022 with 163 tackles, which earned him a three-year, $18 million contract extension. Unfazed by his new riches, Singleton recorded an astounding 177 tackles for the Broncos last season and was leading the team this season with 31 stops in three games.
Singleton knew as the game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers played on that something wasn’t right with his knee but he waited until after the game to tell his coaches and medical personnel. A tough customer who nevertheless will soon undergo reconstructive surgery.
"That one's tough,'' said Denver defensive lineman John Franklin-Myers. "Emotionally, the type of person he is, it's hard. But first message I sent out was it's time for us to do more. It's so important when we lose somebody like that that we have to lean on each other to make up for him and to do more. There's a standard here, and we have to maintain that standard regardless of who's playing and who's not playing."
It’s unclear who will get the first chance to replace the irreplaceable Singleton. Cody Barton starts at the other inside linebacker position and may move over to take Singleton’s position, which has the green dot on his helmet as the player who relays the defensive play calls from coordinator Vance Joseph to the huddle. The Broncos also have veterans Justin Strnad and Kristian Welch as backup inside linebackers, although they have primarily been special team players in recent years.
Strnad did have a fine preseason. He's been a Bronco since he was drafted in the fifth round of the COVID season of 2020. The Broncos also have undrafted rookie linebacker Levelle Bailey on their practice squad and they added two more quality veterans, Kwon Alexander and Zach Cunningham to their practice squad Wednesday.
Alexander was brought in to the Broncos’ Greenbrier Resort practice fields Tuesday for a workout. Alexander is coming off a torn Achilles injury suffered last November.
Cunnigham, 27, is a seven-year NFL starter who had 107, 142 and 164 tackles for the Houston Texans from 2018-2020.
Another player who would have been in line to replace Singleton, Jonas Griffith, suffered a torn ACL in the Broncos’ final preseason game last month, the second time in a year he suffered the injury to the same knee ligament.
That’s two ACL injuries to the Broncos’ top three inside linebackers. The Broncos will practice again Thursday and Friday here at the Greenbrier Resort, then fly Friday afternoon to New Jersey, where they will play the New York Jets on Sunday (11 a.m. MDT) kickoff at MetLife Stadium.
