The Denver Broncos will have to fare without injury-riddled linebacker Dre Greenlaw for at least four more games. After flirting with the idea for over a month, the Broncos officially placed Greenlaw on injured reserve ahead of Week 3.
The Broncos were confident that Greenlaw would shed his issue and did not place him on IR to begin the year. However, after ruling him out of its first two games, Denver made the decision on Saturday due to his lingering quad injury, ESPN's Adam Schefter reported.
Greenlaw has yet to make his Broncos debut after signing a three-year, $31.5 million deal in the offseason. He has not played since Week 16 of the 2024 season, when he suffered a calf injury just two games after returning from a torn Achilles.
Greenlaw missed most of the team's training camp, but returned to practice in August. He appeared to be trending toward playing in Week 1, before Denver ruled him out late.
Greenlaw will miss at least four games, but could potentially sit out longer. He appears to have suffered a recent setback after the Broncos initially expressed optimism.
Dre Greenlaw injury further depletes Broncos' linebacker room
Greenlaw became the third Broncos linebacker to land on injured reserve. He joins third-year Drew Sanders and undrafted rookie Johnny Walker Jr. on the undesirable list.
Without their star in the middle, Denver is down to four active inside linebackers. Captain Alex Singleton will continue to hold down the fort, with Justin Strnad likely remaining in the starting lineup.
Strnad, who started eight games in 2024, started in lieu of Greenlaw in Week 1. Sean Payton opted to start nickelback Jahdae Barron in place of Strnad in Week 2, but the 29-year-old still played 80.3 percent of the defensive snaps against the Indianapolis Colts.
The Broncos will also be without tight end Evan Engram for their Week 3 matchup against the undefeated Los Angeles Chargers. Denver should likely also be undefeated, but committed a senseless leverage penalty in Week 2 that gifted the Colts a game-winning field goal.
