BREAKING: Denver Broncos sign Alex Singleton and release Dre Greenlaw

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1:01Starting round one, we're giving you 10 profit boosts every single tournament game day. That's over 100 chances to level up your winnings. Plus, you'll learn fan cash on your bets, which you can use on anything at Fanatics. We're talking team gear, tickets, collectibles, and a whole lot more. The tournament hits different at Fanatic Sports Book. Must be 21 plus. Gambling problem? Call 1-800 gambler. Offer not available in all states. Terms apply. See Fanatic Sports Book app. Emergency pod. Once again, presented by Exfinity. This is kind of a double emergency pod, because not only did the Broncos resign Alex Singleton to a two-year deal worth about $7.5 million a year. They also released Drey Greenlaw, which means that you kind of have your starting linebacker set with Alex Singleton and Justin Sternade. Zach, what's going on here? Yeah, it was trending this way, and things really came together this afternoon with the Broncos agreeing to a two-year deal with Alex Singleton with $15.5 million, $11 million guaranteed.

2:05And when they made that decision, they also made the decision to release Drey Greenlaw. That was in reaction to not only signing Alex Singleton, but also resigning Justin Sternade yesterday. And they absolutely love what Justin and Alex bring, and this is the Broncos starting linebackers moving forward. Guys, moving on from Drey Greenlaw, it was ended up being a one-year deal for Drey, and we knew that's exactly what it was going to be. Potentially, last year when they signed him to a three-year deal, but only one year was guaranteed. Really quick on Alex Singleton's contract. He gets a raise. He's making almost $8 million per year from $6 million last year, and he gets $11 million guaranteed, which is 71% of his contract. So it's a win for Alex because of the raise and the lot of guarantees that he gets. And it's a win for the Broncos by bringing their captain back at a little bit less of a price than I expected it to be. So it kind of wins all around when it comes to Alex. Yeah, I love this move.

3:06I absolutely love it. And I think it's crazy the way that people are talking about it. You're keeping the captain of one of the best defenses in the NFL. I think that if it weren't for like social media hive minds, everyone would have loved this back in the day. But now everyone just gets these ideas in their head based off of something they saw someone else say. And somehow we don't value Alex Singleton anymore. I'm stoked he's back. He's the captain, he's the leader. The two Alex and Justin were great last year together. And I don't know why everyone's lost on that. But I'm happy. And of course, I think part of the reaction to this is people expected more and wanted to see the Broncos do more today. So then they're going to be more negative about doing things that the Broncos already had. We wanted shiny new toys, which I totally understand. That's always more exciting. But this is a great move. And I think a great deal, especially considering

4:09what some of the numbers were out there originally. And really it's just the raise is equivalent to what Henry's been talking about a lot. This offseason, which is the raising in the cap. The overall salary cap since the last time Alex signed a deal. This is pretty equivalent to that if not a little under it. So great move. Here you go. What do you think, honey? No, you go ahead. You know what? Look, I think when you bring a captain back, that's always great. Obviously he's very beloved in Broncos country. I can see where Broncos country, though. Also would want something newer and want something different. I think what got you to the FC championship last year won't necessarily get you back this year or to the Super Bowl. So, you know, Henry on the last part, last emergency part brought up something that I had no idea. I think you said nine teams that were the number one seed the following year didn't make the playoffs. No, I'm not saying that Broncos won't, but I think it's important just to,

5:10you know, relay the fact that just because you're 114 games, last year doesn't mean that you're going to win 14 games the following year. I think I like a little bit of shakeups on teams. I like adding depth or outside people to bring in competition. You know, when you think about an incredible roster, you always need a, I think you always need a couple of extra pieces. And, you know, obviously free as you just now getting started, but I thought Limebacker was a position of need, consistent, you know, across the board. I think we all thought that Limebacker was a position of need, and all you did was bring back everybody. So, I mean, you get rid of Green Law. He was only there for one year. I wish he could have, you know, played more games, and, you know, he was coming up, you know, some pretty bad injuries. So, you know, it was great by George Payton and Sean Payton. You know, signed them only into one year to see if he could, you know, actually be what they thought and, you know, injuries, you know, put a damper on that. But Limebacker is still a position of need, and you didn't upgrade the position

6:13at all. You brought back, you know, some good pieces. But is it a great piece? You know, you're great at every level of a defense. I would say besides, inside Limebacker. So, don't get me wrong. I like the guys a lot, and I'm sure they're great culture fits. But, you know, did the position, did you upgrade that position? No, and I think tied in, running back and receiver, the positions where you want to upgrade. Certainly an upgrade, but what options were there to upgrade? I'm not sure, you know, I have not looked in depth into the Limebacker free agency. I, you know, all I know is that there is a position of need, or that is a position of need to get better at, but I can't go down and say, hey, here are the names. I haven't done that much research on it, but I know that you're going to have to do it in the draft, because you're going to have to, you're going to have to get better. Yes, that's what I would say is you definitely want to look here in the draft now. I've been wanting the Broncos to do that for years and years,

7:14and we might be in a different situation right now if they did. But yeah, I think that's the place where now you should definitely be planning to add in the draft. Yeah, I think that's definitely right. And I think the Broncos have kind of just patched the other of this Limebacker room for, I think, I think even back in the day, people glorify the Super Bowl Limebackers, who are good Limebackers, the Day of Trevathan and Brandon Marshall, but I mean, they haven't had a Pro Bowl or an All Pro at Limebacker in a very long time, in part because they just don't invest in it. And it does feel like you've got to be getting close to taking a high draft pick and kind of planning for the future a little bit more, but from where they stand now, we kind of agreed coming into this week that the thing that makes the most sense is you keep out Singleton, he's your Mike, you've got Justin Sternad, who was splitting time with Dre Greedlaw, and it probably doesn't make sense to keep both of those guys. And now here we are and they kind of played that out. And I get people want more.

8:14It's similar to the Adam Trautman move where you look at the receivers or the tight ends who were around him and pay and say like, yeah, that's kind of exactly where he probably falls as the money he got because you hear six and a half million dollars, whatever it is, that doesn't mean when it used to. And when you look through what Limebackers are paid right now, I mean, Cody Barton is a seven million dollar your Limebacker, a Divine Diablo, seven million dollar Limebacker, a Cristian Ellis is under seven million dollars, like those are all guys who are not as good as football Alex Singleton. Now, when you talk about Alex, is he one of those like four or four Limebackers to do it all, line him up over like there just aren't many of those who even exist. And that's why for the money, I really like the deal. Same thing with Justin Sternad, like I think he's too good for his six million dollars a year, but it just, you know, he hasn't have years of taste. So when you think about, I just want to double click on the Danny True Bathe and Brandon Marshall type thing, Danny True Bathe and hard smash mouth type of Limebacker

9:19was incredible in the run game. And it was really complimentary to that defense. And then Brandon Marshall, you know, at the time was one of the best cover Limebackers. And then you have a Todd Davis who was playing on special teams and then Finland. When I think about a championship Limebacking core, like you just named all those guys who have or getting around the same money as Alex Singleton, then why not bring in a different element or different Limebacker maybe at a cheaper price to bring up different competition. I just don't, I like to change things in and out. I like to bring people in and out, even though they might be doing the same thing, don't get me wrong, Vance Joseph and the guys up front also make it easier on those types of types of Limebackers. So I think it's for me, it's more of a competition thing than just, like, let's bring back something that's familiar. I think sometimes you just need to change things up. Yeah, and for me, again, I like the deal for the money. It's similar to like the JK

10:19Dolvin's deal. It's like for the low level contract, it makes sense. The thing is, you can, you can make those good deals for, for like, value amounts of money. But eventually, like, you do need to use the savings that you're making from those positions to go make a deal somewhere else. And I think that's how we're waiting for it. So like, when you hear, you don't, it's not ETN. You're not paying ETN. You're not here paying Kenneth Walker and kind of go through that whole list. You say, like, well, maybe you do pay down to the void. Like, maybe you're now in the market for that. So I do, my take is I like the move. I like the decision to pair those two up. I think for what you're paying, you're going to get more production than that. But I am curious. At some point, you got to do something that makes you feel better out about a position instead of just running it back. I don't, I don't think so, guys. I mean, what, what are we doing? What do we talk about? We're talking about one of the best defenses in the NFL last year. And both Alex, Alex is one game and Justin stepped in and was a full-time starter. When Dre Greenlaw

11:20didn't play for half the season. And these guys are really good. And I think these guys also complement each other extremely well. It's kind of like JK and RJ. Those guys complement each other extremely well. I don't think there's much overlap in a good way as with Alex and Justin is one of the best blitzing linebackers in the NFL. Four and a half sacks last year. Are you kidding me from an inside lineback that started half the games? That's fantastic. And then Alex singleton. He is your captain. He is your signal caller. He is your heart and soul of the defense. I talked about it last week. I did not think they were going to let Alex singleton leave because Vance Joseph loves him and Sean Peyton loves him. The locker room loves him. And he's a good player. And if you want to point at coverage, then you don't know what you're talking about. Because Alex singleton is rarely asked to cover in the NFL. Sure. Is he asked occasionally? Yes. But as much as people think, absolutely not get out of here. Alex singletons is the heart and soul of this defense. He's the brains of the defense. And he is supposed to be great in the run game and make tackles. You know what he does? He's great in the red game. And he makes a ton of tackles year in and year out coming off his best season arguably. Now can the Broncos now get

12:27better with depth? Yes. And I think this is a year that the Broncos actually do go in the draft for a linebacker. Maybe on day two in the draft. And we would you say that see the future of this room set up. Alex is on a two year deal. Justin's on a three year deal with two years guarantee. Makes sense to now go get a guy and have him develop into oh, let's say a Justin Sternad who developed perfectly from a fifth round pick. So get out of here with this negativity in the chat here. I don't think it was a position of needs. Certainly now moving on from gray. I think you can say like that they need depth right now because Justin was one of the best backup inside linebackers last year. And now he's going to be asked to start. So certainly you do lose some depth. What's the negativity in the chat? I can't see it. Oh, you don't want to look back later. It is brew my voice is killing me and I had to push. It's absolutely terrible. A massive crash out spending. And one more thing really quick. But I'm with it. But I'm crashing out too. Yeah, I know you're right. I'm crashing out. I want to really quick. Next. I want to take the next

13:32step away. Go ahead. Really quick. Just by moving on from dragrin lab, the Broncos do have four million dollars in deadcap and they do save six million dollars right there. So Broncos are going to be cheaper in the inside linebacker room this year than they were last year. If you want to take value in there. And they save another two and a half million next year too. So I mean, you would have paid him eight and a half million dollars in cash this year. And that's what you're saving over the next two years. So you're really saving money. What the contracts that have the three deals that have gone down a day, how much cash faces left? We don't know because the contracts don't actually we don't see the full details until 24 48 hours after. So my guess and we still don't know JKs deal. I guess and that's around four probably a capitive two. They're probably bleed just under with getting drabe back probably around 20 million right now. Even after their deals. I believe so. Yep. Because of the moving on from dragrin restructuring Quinn yesterday. So I think at right around 20, we'll know more in a couple of days.

14:37You're going to be interesting. I mean, when you look at the when you look at the upcoming opponents and offenses that you're going to play, I think you have to upgrade this defense just because you were the number one defense last year or top three defense last year. Just not mean that's carrying over. You're playing a totally you're playing a number of the first play schedule. So you know, this is this is going to be a hard there's going to be a hard upcoming year. And the Broncos aren't sneaking up on anybody. Yeah. And I I don't even need an upgrade on the defense. I just need an upgrade somewhere like you got to give somebody on somewhere where you're better because I mean, you had the number two run defense in the NFL last year. That is all coming back because the greatest J.F.M. was he's a pass rusher. They were picking and choosing his snaps. You're you're still going to have any in there. You're still going to welcome. I think that run defense is going to be fine. The past defense you lose J.F.M. You're going to feel that. And then offensively you bring back J.K. which is great for the games that he plays. But again, you just haven't I need to be able to look back on this offseason and say,

15:41sure, you accept you're not always going to get better anywhere or everywhere. You're going to get worse at some spots most likely. But you got to sell me on just a couple of places where I can look back and say on paper, you are better here in 2026 than you are in 2025. There's still time to do that. I'm with you. I'm 100% with you on that. I'd like to see the Broncos make a big move. But that's not as nothing to do with bringing back Alex singleton. Right. I think at linebacker you did what I think maybe we all except for Benny would have done which is you bring back singleton because again, number two run defense in the NFL last year. And look at what they did against the Patriots at the end when you knew there was no offense. Like I I like it. I just I hope the next one of these is one where people aren't reasonably. I would say like if you're mad in the chat, I don't think you're crazy for being mad. I just think that sometimes it takes patience. I just really hope this next

16:45emergency popby have is where you get to say, okay. I want to put it out there that it's not an Alex singleton thing or a linebacker thing. But I felt like on the roster, you have to shake some things up because you are one game of weight or you were one game away from the Super Bowl. So I think it's also a message to your locker room that we're not complacent about where we were last year. And like we know we can't just run it back with the same roster. That's that's what it signals to me. It's like, oh yeah, like we're about to shake some things up. We're about to compete more. We're going to add a player here. Add a player there. Hank to your point or to your you know, yeah, to your point doesn't necessarily be at the linebacker room. But maybe it's the receiver room. Like, hey, we're here to let everybody know you should not be comfortable at all with the result. 100%. I do want to point something out and just kind of remind everyone because the Broncos have not been in this position in terms of the number one seed, the best record in the

17:47NFL, a season coming off of that since we've been doing this show. And it's been a decade since the Broncos have been coming off that type of season. And so just a reminder and a refresher of where other teams are that we're in a similar position to the Broncos, the New England Patriots. I don't think they've made multiple big splashes today. They also had the same record as the Broncos last year, the Jacksonville Jaguars. They have not made big moves. In fact, they might be trading, they they lost ETN and they might be trading Brian Robinson Jr., which we'll talk about or Brian Thomas Jr. The Houston Texans have not made big moves. And the Buffalo Bills had traded for DJ more. We talked about that. But those are all the playoff teams in the AFC. No big moves there in the AFC. Look at the NFC. The Seattle sea hawks have lost guys. Instead of getting guys, they were obviously the number one seed in the NFC. The Bears to their credit have made some moves. They were also an 11 win team. Last year, the Eagles haven't made big outside moves. The Panthers. I mean, they were eight and nine. So don't really need to count them. And that's pretty much

18:52the NFC as well. So like when you get to this spot of where the Broncos have been, you do not get big move after big move after big move. I know we've been spoiled in free agency the past 10 years because the Broncos have been bad and have had a lot of money and had to go make splashes. That's just not the reality of what good teams do year in and year out. What good teams do year in and year out is they sign their own guys to extensions in August, just like this Denver Broncos team did. If you wanted them to wait. I would push back on that. What about Philadelphia? What about the Rams? Year in a year out. Those guys make trades. They trade away draft picks. So I would just push back on that. Those are two teams. I mean, we know that the Rams are all about F the picks. So they're always going to be making the trades that that that's one of 32 teams that operate. Throwing that out there. Also a team that did make the playoffs last year that I believe will make the playoffs this year that hand pointed out to me earlier. That's a stacked roster that has a new

19:52coach that just traded for match product. That's in the division. Bills have made a move in terms of getting Josh Allen a playmaker that somebody that he he desperately needed and wouldn't need it. He needed to or would have needed against the Broncos this year. So that's now in the division. So you know, I just think about things like that. I'm not saying. Look, I agree with your points. I think there are just also some other points in terms of teams, you know, stick around. And I also think about some of the incredible teams when you think back to those New England years, they would always do something a little weird, like a trade for Randy Moss or something like that, you know, make people uncomfortable in that building. I believe I believe in competition and Bill Bellichap would find some of these older players. Chad Ultrasego didn't work out. I wish it would have because he was one of my favorite receivers, but he would always try to find those types of players. And I'm saying the Broncos hopefully do that over the next couple of weeks. Probably not today, but you know, you you think about just finding competition everywhere.

20:53Yeah, I mean, and I think that they're we should lie somewhere in between. The Broncos are not going to make a bunch of splashes. We always knew that. We also think that they can do better than just the status quo. And so it's early, like, you know, we're this is the first day of the offseason. This is a terrible offseason. How can we're in day one of the offseason? How you can't decide that yet. We'll see if they shake it up. We'll see what they do to upgrade the roster. We'll see what they can do in the draft. They could trade up in the draft and get a great player. Like, we don't know what's going to happen yet. So I understand overall disappointment that some of the guys that we've been talking about for the last few weeks are off the board and they didn't end up being Broncos. But I also think that panicking, crashing out, saying fire George Payton, saying the Broncos are going to miss the playoffs. All that is completely assinine at this point when we don't even have the full picture yet. Absolutely. Absolutely. Again,

21:54that's what it comes down to me is like, have they done anything to excite me? I mean, I'm not fired up over here saying like, oh, this is the year. I'm not, I still need them to give me something where I can say you are better at this position than you were before. But when you look at all the deals, I mean, this is kind of what we thought would happen and probably thought should happen. Again, Cody Barton's getting $7 million a year. We watched him play football in Denver at the same time Alex Singleton was playing football. And you can't tell me that those are like similar players, like divine Diablo with the Falcons, $7 million. Like, those are the kinds of guys who are in this tier. It's a good value. And again, if you don't want the Broncos shopping for value right now, I get it. Okay. Well, bye, Benny. We'll see you in a couple hours hopefully. But yeah, I mean, it's, it is what it is. Like you, you got so far every contract, the Bronx have made it seemed like it's a good value. You're getting a good player. I get the lack of excitement. And hopefully there's something exciting that that happens. And if not, it is what

22:55it is. I mean, maybe, maybe why I'm not freaking out like the chat is and why people are absolutely crushing me is I reported this is exactly what was going to happen a week ago. I said on the show, I have it writing over at dnbr.com. The what I'm hearing heading into free agency, my second headline or second biggest bullet point was run it back. That's what the Broncos are going to do. That's what I'm here and inside the building. So I've just accepted this for a week and maybe, maybe in a week, that's how people will be feeling after they've accepted it for a week. It does not mean that another move isn't going to be made. This is still so early in the process right now. The Broncos still have $20 million of cap space. And if you think that Sean Payton is going to sit back and just be fine. Absolutely not. If anyone's going to be pushing the lever to it for to get more and more and more, it is Sean Payton there. But I like the moves the Broncos have made. I'm sorry. A lot of people don't. Yeah, totally a lot of a lot of hate for a team that made us the AFC chain.

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26:02I think that's going to do it for this one. Shout out to our friends over at Xfinity. Again, let go sign up. It's the best internet you can get. It's only you get the same exact price for five years, but they do that for you without an annual contract. So you're not locked in either. There's no hidden fees. You get all their best equipment. And it really is great internet. Not only that, it's intelligent internet. So like I'm streaming the Rockies game over there on the other room. Looks like they're now down 12 zip to the white socks. It's embarrassing. And that's why they power more internet to my computer where we're doing this. Instead of to that terrible, terrible Rockies game going on in the other room. Xfinity is the best. They make all this possible. Lock in your price. Unlock the possibilities with Xfinity. Learn more at xfinity.xfinity.com. Xfinity. Imagine that. Suck plans only restrictions apply. And I think that's going to do it. Hopefully we get something dig and exciting and you nighting, which would be nice if there's a move that everybody just loves. But until then, we'll just be hanging out. We'll do an emergency pot again. If something happens, if not, we'll see you guys at 11am

27:04tomorrow. One more time. Shout to Xfinity for making this happen. We'll see you guys whenever we see you again. We'll see you guys next time.

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