On Saturday, the Denver Broncos rookie linebacker left practice with a right ankle and foot injury. He was promptly wheeled off the practice field to receive medical care. This unfortunate incident now puts his availability for the 2023 season in question. He’s been dealt the tough hand in past years. The injury occurred roughly 90 minutes into the practice. At one point, Sanders was seen artfully completing a dunk by hopping on his left leg to avoid injuring his troublesome right side.
Sanders, a third-round pick in the 2023 draft, admittedly has battled his own injury woes thus far in his career. Last year, his Achilles ruptured in preseason training. This cruel injury kept him out for the majority of the regular season and restricted him to just five games. His experience in the wild-card round playoff loss to the Buffalo Bills fueled his fire. Since then, he has taken that experience to heart and fought tooth and nail to get back the spot on the starting team.
When training camp opened, Sanders was lining up as a second-team inside linebacker to begin practice. He battled tooth and nail with Alex Singleton, who is himself returning from an ACL tear he suffered in Week 3 last year. Singleton may have an edge over Sanders in the depth chart right now. Dre Greenlaw, our hot new free-agent acquisition, is having a hard time with a lingering thigh injury. As a consequence, he’s already lost key on-field workouts, increasing the questions in our linebacker corps.
On Saturday, Sanders had been watching fit-o drills with a sleeve on his right leg. His injury raised a lot of questions about how it would affect what role he’d have in the future. This is especially timely given the advances he suffered last year. After the practice injury, he had an MRI scan to determine just how bad the damage was.
The Broncos’ coaching staff and medical team will monitor Sanders’ condition closely in the coming days. The entire team is still optimistic for a speedy return, but he is still an unknown for the returning season. With many unknowns still surrounding the linebacker lineup, the Broncos would love to see how their depth at the position grows with these injuries suffered in training camps.
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