The Denver Broncos are widely believed to have one of the best defenses in the NFL in 2025. One analyst at ESPN either doesn’t believe that they will or that third-year linebacker Drew Sanders won’t be a big contributor for that unit.
Mike Clay of ESPN recently put together stat predictions for players on every team in the league. He doesn’t predict that the Broncos’ defense will be dominant, at least in terms of racking up sacks and turnovers, but the one player who stood out in his predictions was Sanders.
Clay predicts that Sanders will see just 21 snaps on defense this season, collecting a total of three tackles. If that prediction proves true, it would have to be seen as a huge disappointment.
Sanders has gotten off to a rough start in his career. A third-round pick out of Arkansas in 2023, he saw limited snaps as a rookie and then during the team’s offseason program last April, he tore his Achilles tendon. That caused him to miss most of the season, but on his first defensive snap upon returning, he registered his first career sack.
Just 24 years old, the Broncos should still have high hopes for Sanders and what he can bring to the defense. If Clay’s prediction came true, it would have to be seen as a major disappointment.
The Broncos have two solid veterans in the starting inside linebacker spots in Dre Greenlaw and Alex Singleton. But Singleton is 31 years old and coming off an ACL injury. He should not receive anything close to the 989 defensive snaps that Clay predicts.
Instead, Sanders should cut into those snaps and things should be a little more balanced. Singleton should be the starter and should get the vast majority of the snaps, but there need to be some packages or situations where Sanders is sprinkled into the defense as well.
If Sanders gets only 21 snaps as a former third-round pick in his third season, he should be a player the team parts ways with.
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