Vance Joseph calls Alex Singleton the best linebacker in the NFL

Alex Singleton was named AFC Defensive Player of the Month on Thursday — Broncos DC Vance Joseph says the honor is overdue

BY JAKE SHAPIRO

Nov 6, 2026, 3:00 PM

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Alex Singleton was named AFC Defensive Player of the Month on Thursday. Denver Broncos defensive coordinator Vance Joseph says the honor is overdue.

“For me, he’s been the best backer in football for a long time,” Joseph said Thursday. “I’m not surprised.”

Joseph said he told Singleton the same thing a year ago.

“I watch film every day, and I told him this last year: I don’t see a lot of guys better than you,” Joseph said.

Singleton led the NFL with 68 tackles in October and added two sacks and five tackles for loss. One of those sacks came against Patrick Mahomes on third down late in last Sunday’s 28-24 comeback win over the Kansas City Chiefs. It pushed Kansas City back, and Harrison Butker missed the 54-yard field goal that followed. Singleton led all players with 14 tackles in the game, which moved the Broncos into first place in the AFC West.

He’s the first Broncos linebacker to win the monthly award since Von Miller in September 2021. He’s also the fifth linebacker in team history to win it, joining Miller, DeMarcus Ware, Simon Fletcher and Karl Mecklenburg.

Joseph said Singleton’s value goes beyond tackles. Singleton wears the “green dot,” the helmet radio that carries the defensive play calls from the sideline.

“Outside of him making a bunch of plays, man, he’s our quarterback on defense,” Joseph said.

Asked why it took so long for Singleton to be recognized, Joseph shrugged it off.

“That’s the league,” he said. “He’s been consistent for a long time. He had 171 tackles, what, two years ago, right? No one talks about that.”

Singleton said Joseph’s backing means a lot to him.

“It’s everything,” Singleton said. “I would assume he’s probably 99% of the reason I’m here, maybe if not more than that. So yes, to have him say that, it means everything, because he means so much to my career.”

Singleton credited the rest of the defense for the award.

“It’s sick. It’s cool,” he said. “Obviously, it’s not just me, it’s everyone else on our defense. I’ve said all the time, it’s a privilege to just get to be around the 10 other guys on the field.”

He also thanked Joseph and inside linebackers coach Jeff Schmedding.

The Week 1 loss in Kansas City is part of the story. Singleton said many of his tackles in that 31-10 loss were cleanup tackles, made after something had already gone wrong. Since then, he said, the whole defense has improved.

“The last seven weeks, our entire defense, it’s just every tackle’s been a guy making a play,” Singleton said. “There haven’t been a lot of mistakes that we’ve made in the last two months.”

That’s a big change for a player who beat testicular cancer last season. Singleton is now playing the best football of his career, and his defensive coordinator says the rest of the league is finally catching up to what the Broncos have seen for years.

“I’ve known he’s a pretty good player for a long time,” Joseph said.