Dre Greenlaw exits Broncos practice early on Thursday with injury

The Denver Broncos have made a handful of risky signings this offseason as they’ve taken chances on multiple players with a history of injuries. One of them was linebacker Dre Greenlaw, who missed most of the 2024 season with a torn Achilles that he suffered in Super Bowl LVIII.

Throughout his career, Greenlaw has fought through calf, groin, quad and hamstring issues on top of the Achilles, which have caused him to miss nearly three dozen games since he entered the league as a fifth-round pick in 2019. He also suffered a quad strain during offseason workouts back in the winter, a sign that the injury woes weren’t fully behind him after changing scenery from San Francisco to Denver.

At Broncos training camp on Thursday, Greenlaw suffered a lower body injury, as he exited practice early after pulling up when defending J.K. Dobbins in pass coverage. He tried to walk it off, but ended up jogging to the locker room under his own power.

Greenlaw jogged off to locker room. https://t.co/DXzQlR38jo

— MikeKlis9NEWS (@mikeklis9news) July 31, 2025

Greenlaw is poised to be the leader of a Broncos defense that is in contention to be the best group in the entire league after a strong showing in 2024. One of their weak spots was off-ball linebacker, which showed in the Wild Card game in Buffalo when the Bills ran all over the Broncos’ defense.

Broncos head coach Sean Payton was not too concerned with the injury.

“I think he’s fine. In the one on one period, he felt it got tight, different area [than the quad] … We’ll go ahead and have all the the precautionary work done, but I think it’ll be all right,” Payton said after practice Thursday.

“No I think he’s fine.” – Sean Payton on Dre Greenlaw after he left practice with an apparent injury #BroncosCountry pic.twitter.com/3pUB6QHlTR

— Denver Sports 104.3 (@DenSports1043) July 31, 2025

An official timetable on his recovery has not been shared yet, but this is still a major blow to a Broncos defense that was looking to take another massive step in 2025, even if Payton isn’t concerned.

Related

Bo Nix won’t play in Broncos first preseason game, QB plan revealedBroncos list Jarrett Stidham as No. 2 QB on first depth chart of 2026 seasonBroncos 15th most valuable franchise in NFL, worth more than $9 billionA Week 1 win in Kansas City would change the national Broncos narrativeJonah Coleman looks like a first-round running back during training campIf Broncos need an emergency center, Quinn Meinerz is ready