Dre Greenlaw has quad strain, but will be ready for regular season

Dre Greenlaw will miss some time for the Denver Broncos during their ongoing offseason work as they go through team-organized offseason workouts that lead up to OTAs next month and minicamp in June due to a quad strain suffered recently, according to a source with knowledge of the situation.

That’s the bad news.

But the good news for the Broncos and their recently-signed linebacker is that he is expected to be good to go in plenty of time to be ready for the regular season, per the source.

This is good news, especially in light of a report from NBC Sports Bay Area that emerged Sunday afternoon that Dre Greenlaw had suffered a significant quad injury that would sideline him into the regular season.

The Broncos are counting on the free-agent signee to shore up the spine of their defense — an area that got shredded down the stretch last year and into the postseason, as opponents ran down their throats and passed down the center of the field at will, with Cleveland dicing the Broncos through the air, Indianapolis doing so on the ground and the Chargers, Bengals and Bills doing so through both means.

Dre Greenlaw and fellow ex-San Francisco 49ers defender Talanoa Hufanga were added to help prevent that.

BRONCOS GOT DRE GREENLAW; 49ERS WANTED HIM BACK

So keen were the 49ers on keeping Greenlaw that coach Kyle Shanahan flew to Texas in an attempt to convince Greenlaw to spurn the Broncos and return to San Francisco. That came up short.

Dre Greenlaw missed nearly all of last season as he recovered from the torn Achilles tendon suffered in Super Bowl LVIII against the Kansas City Chiefs. He briefly returned last December, but quickly stepped back as he dealt with lingering soreness.

Thus, the potential news of an injury that could affect his regular season crossed the NFL like a thunderbolt on what seemed to be a placid post-draft Sunday.

But by all indications, the quadriceps injury isn’t severe and will not prevent him from being at the heart of the Broncos defense alongside Alex Singleton — himself returning from a significant injury — when the season commences in September.

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