Broncos Abruptly Terminate Contract of 25-Year-Old Defender

The Denver Broncos have officially ended their relationship with linebacker Drew Sanders, waiving the former third-round pick from injured reserve.

The move, which included an injury settlement and was revealed on ESPN’s NFL transaction log, closes a three-year chapter defined more by missed games than production.

Sanders was first waived with an injury designation on Aug. 30 when Denver trimmed its roster to 53. After he cleared waivers, he reverted to the team’s injured reserve list. Rather than keep him there for the season, the Broncos released him days before their 2026 opener.

The 6-foot-5, 233-pound defender was selected 67th overall in the 2023 draft out of Arkansas. As a rookie he played all 17 games and made four starts. After that, availability vanished. He tore his Achilles before the 2024 season and appeared in only four games.

A foot tendon injury then wiped out his entire 2025 campaign. An undisclosed injury limited him again this summer. In all, he missed roughly 30 games over two seasons. His Broncos totals: 32 tackles and one sack in 21 appearances.

Head coach Sean Payton did not hide the difficulty of the decision after the initial waiver.

“It’s difficult because you watch the process, and the effort, and the calories, and the energy and the amount of time — I know, more than anyone, he was frustrated,” Payton said. “So those are never easy because the make-up and the toughness, it really came down to just the injuries. That’s always difficult.”

Sanders was entering the final year of a four-year rookie contract worth about $5.73 million, including a $1.17 million signing bonus.

Denver had already tried to salvage the pick by moving him between inside linebacker and the edge. Payton praised his instincts and shape in the spring and said the club hoped to use him more as a pass rusher. Health never cooperated long enough for that plan to matter.

For a team trying to stay competitive in the AFC West, roster spots and IR slots are scarce. Sanders’ combination of size, length, and college production once made him an intriguing developmental piece. Repeated lower-body injuries turned that promise into a cap and depth-chart problem.

He is now a free agent and can sign with another club once healthy. At 24, he still has the athletic profile that got him drafted in the third round.

Whether another team will bet on that profile after three injury-riddled seasons is the next question. In Denver, the experiment is over.