Broncos’ Alex Singleton says he’s feeling like himself again

Alex Singleton tore his ACL not even a year ago and on Monday, he led the Denver Broncos defense with 11 tackles as they stiffled the Cincinnati Bengals 28-3.

Singleton, who racked up 340 tackles in his first two years in Denver, messed up his knee during last year’s Week 3 game. He played through the rest of that game in Tampa Bay before realizing what he had done to his leg.

And in returning from that surgery, Singleton got hurt again during training camp. Twice, he injured his thumb, which required surgery. The pain limited his usage in Week 1. But he was a full go as Denver’s defense completely shut down the Bengals.

“My knee is just better,” Singleton said after the win. “Every week it’s a long recovery. It’s still under a year since the surgery, it just takes a long time to just feel good. Football season, it’s tough going from training camp to games, but I think tonight was the first time I felt just fully there.”

Singleton has now led the team in tackles twice in a row. But coming into this week, according to PFF data, Singleton allowed at least 10 yards every time he’s been targeted, placing him among the bottom 17 of 78 inside linebackers with at least 20 coverage snaps so far this season.

Obviously, it was a much stronger total game from the veteran backer as the Bengals gained just 159 yards total.

“I just enjoy this game; it obviously has been a long time since I was playing,” he said. “So these last few weeks have been just kind of getting back into it. Today was the first night I really felt like myself.”

The importance of Singleton and his health has been stressed early, with key pickup at linebacker Dre Greelaw missing every game thus far.

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