Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - The REAL STORY Surrounding Denver Broncos Linebacker Dre Greenlaw

Starting point is 00:00:00 What is the real story surrounding Denver Broncos linebacker, Drake Greenland, his injury timeline. We'll go through all that here on today's episode, Locked on Broncos. You are Locked on Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast. Part of the Locked on podcast network, your team every day. What's up, Broncos, welcome into a bonus episode, Lockdown Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast. Part of the Lockdown podcast network, you know, it's your team every day. I'm Cody Roark, Broncos reporter from Mile High Sports. shout out to all the everydayers in Broncos country.

Starting point is 00:00:36 Thanks for tuning in making us your first listen. However, you choose to do so, today's episode, the show is brought to you by our friends over there at Mazda. Like our players, we sweat every detail because when you make every move count, pulling off the unexpected is only the beginning. Stay tuned later for highlights in this week's moving the game forward. Mazda move and be moved here. We've got a lot to break down here on today's episode of the show. This is the Dre Greenlaw episode. What happened with Dre Greenlaw?

Starting point is 00:01:01 because there's a lot of confusion on the timeline. And I think Broncos country wants a little bit of clarity on the situation. So we'll go through the story after Drake Greenlaw landed on short-term IR over the weekend. We'll go through the timeline of his quad injury, dating all the way back to the month of April. I'll also talk about how the Broncos can advance forward right now without him in the mix here. Let's dive into the story here. Dre Greenlaw going on short-term IR, meaning he'll miss at least the next four weeks of the season, eligible to return, week seven against Russell,

Starting point is 00:01:31 Wilson and the New York Giant. So there is no guarantee that that will be the date or the game that he'll be ready to make his Broncos season debut. This is something that is going to take some time for this team. They're going to go through the rest and recovery process right now with Dre. He's been in the ramp up period for quite some time. So how did we get here? Let's start off with the timeline. This dates back to the month of April after he signed a deal in NFL free agency. The Broncos got him at a little bit of a bargain because of his injury history. When you talk about the valuation of it versus what he could have gotten, he would have stayed in San Francisco.

Starting point is 00:02:06 I guarantee you if he never had the injury history there, they would have found a way to really kind of keep him in the mix here. They wanted him back in San Fran, but they were going through a bunch of wholesale changes on their roster with making moves to make Brock Purdy, you know, someone that they could pay in the offseason. Drey Greenlaw was someone they wanted back. Kyle Shanahan, John Lynch flew out.

Starting point is 00:02:25 It was announced that he was signing with the Broncos to try to convince him to stay in San Fran. and he was going to go elsewhere here in the Mile High City. And let's go to the month of April. This is really where everything began. Obviously off-season workouts, the voluntary off-season program, phase one, as Sean Payton calls it, began for the team. And this is where Dre Greenlaw initially suffered the injury. Now, not sure if this happened away from the team facility or at the team facility.

Starting point is 00:02:50 All we know is that Dre suffered a pretty significant quad pole in workouts in the month of April. And the timeline was going to be four to six, potentially eight weeks for this injury. But, you know, the initial report from a San Francisco beat writer said that it was going to be, you know, half the season, initially that was what Rose reported. But obviously, Dre's agent had came out. And there was a lot of clarity and confusion as to what it was, the severity of it. It was a pull.

Starting point is 00:03:18 But he was going to go through the rest and recovery process and be ready to go for the start of training camp. So what did that mean for us as OTAs began, as mandatory minicamp began, we were out there of practice and Dre Greenlaw working on the side field there. He was going through the recovery rehab process that Bo Lowry put in place with the training staff there and he was following it with the timeline set to him making his debut in a Broncos uniform ready to go for the start of training camp. So what was it like on day one of Broncos training camp?

Starting point is 00:03:46 Drey Greenlaw, he was front center. He was present. He was ready to rock and roll. Made it through the entire first week of training camp. Made it through the entire second week of training camp. It kind of at that late end of the two week period. This is right after the Broncos had kind of put pads on. We're out there at practice.

Starting point is 00:04:00 Drake Greenlaw pulls up in a one-on-one drill when trying to cover J.K. Dobbins down the sideline. You know, there was a slight pull, and there was just some grimacing on his half. He was walking on it. He was moving before he initially jogged into the locker room after about five minutes after it had happened there. And this is what Sean Payton said was the scare out of Sean Payton factor and all this. John during training camp wasn't afraid to talk about injuries. Now that we are in the regular season, Sean wasn't going to talk about injuries. This is something we're going to have to come back to here.

Starting point is 00:04:30 Let's go through the timeline here continuously, right? So he suffers the scare. He's out there at practice still, not dressed. I mean, he's got a jersey and he's got shorts on. He would participate in team stretch. Then he'd go work on the side field during the parts of training camp after he suffered the initial injury. They fly out to San Francisco for joint practice with the 49ers there where obviously he does not participate in that regard. but he made the trip back because it's a place.

Starting point is 00:04:55 It was home. It's where he spent a large portion of his career so far in the NFL. So he was there. Obviously, he's a veteran guy. You want to be with the team. You're not going to separate yourself. There were a couple of guys the Broncos ended up bringing on that trip, and he ultimately was one of them.

Starting point is 00:05:10 He doesn't play in the preseason game. Joint practices come around against the Arizona Cardinals the following week. Dre is dressed in shoulder pads in a helmet. He's dressed in full pads, but he doesn't participate in the actual team scrimmage against the Arizona Cardinals, right? So this is important to note. At this point, he's already made his return to practice. I think this stuff is very important when we talk about soft tissues and maybe injury recurrence. And then you get through the third and final week of the preseason, right? Dre's been

Starting point is 00:05:37 practicing. You know, we've been at these training camp practices. He's got a helmet on shoulder pads. He's been a full participant for the most part. There's a day where maybe he's limited one day full for the rest. And so now it's like, all right, the goal here, like is Sean going to play him in the final preseason game against the Northern Saints? And they're decided not to, even though that he was a full participant practice that week. So I think that's important to kind of keep in mind here as you're going about this timeline. After the third final week of the preseason, right, roster cuts happen. And Denver, it's that Monday, it's Labor Day.

Starting point is 00:06:07 They have a bonus practice. All of us in the media, we're out there for that bonus practice. We see Dre Greenlaw participating in practice. We think nothing of it. Like, we didn't think anything of it because we saw him practicing the week before. So that's that Monday. Denver would have their first official regular. season practice just two days after the fact. So now we go out there for Wednesday and we see

Starting point is 00:06:28 Dre Greenland on the side field. That's when it all began, right? So from what we have seen and observed and what I've gone through this timeline speaking with all of you about, because I think this is so important because everyone's mad at Dre, everyone's frustrated at Dre. Don't be mad at Dre. It's not Dre's fault. We'll dive in it a little bit later. But it's safe to assume at this point that during that Monday practice or sometime after, maybe that Monday, maybe they did something Tuesday in a lift or maybe a jog. Maybe something had happened, but there was an apparent setback following or during that Monday Labor Day practice because we didn't get to watch practice in its entirety that Monday.

Starting point is 00:07:03 It was a bonus practice, but they were not yet under the regular season reporting guidelines where they had to release an injury report for that Monday practice. That all began on Wednesday. And Dre, D&P, D&P, D&P, it was not going to play against the Tennessee Titans. Maybe you can play against the Colts. D&P, D&P, Friday, limited participant in practice. Okay, maybe not playing against the Colt, but maybe next week against the Chargers. So here we are in terms of this timeline this week at practice.

Starting point is 00:07:32 Wednesday, D&P, Thursday, D&P, Friday, D&P. We see Drey Wednesday and Thursday off on the side field, doing work. Obviously, going through his normal process there, as you would try to figure for a guy who's ramping himself up to return, initially like the Friday was brief right so then it was reported by Luca Evans who I have the privilege to see in every day Luke is awesome Luca reported that Dre had suffered an apparent setback this week so we're assuming that could have been on Friday that could have been maybe late Thursday once again we're not allowed to view practice in its entirety when we see them walk

Starting point is 00:08:08 to the side field briefly that you know we only get 15 to 20 minutes of viewing period at the practice and then we're gone for the rest of practice until we have podium with Sean so Keep in mind all of this. So how does this tie in now to Sean Payton? Well, look, all of you in Broncos country rely on us as beat reporters. What's going on? We are sharing and we have shared with you. Every detail you need to know in the lead up process says, okay, we see Dre on the side

Starting point is 00:08:34 field. That's great. We asked Sean Payton about the injury. I'm not talking about injuries. Sean is not going to talk about injuries. He views it as a competitive disadvantage to give that away, though I will say teams, they see the injury report. They say who's participating, who's not.

Starting point is 00:08:48 So I don't know how much of a disadvantage it really is, but Sean's regular season statute is to not give any information on injuries. So we can only report on what you see. Now, we see Dre Greenlaw in the locker room. We saw him in the locker room after the Broncos winning week one. And we can't talk to him. We can't approach him. You know, we have guys, even Chris Thomason, the week after, you know,

Starting point is 00:09:09 of Tennessee leading up to it, you know, went to go talk to Dre. And he said, I can't talk about my injury. That is just something that Sean doesn't want these guys to go out there and talk to him. I understand Sean's got every right as a coach to ask that. But what I'm saying is this creates frustration and it makes the fan base angry. And I understand, you know, maybe to Sean, like the fan base is level of satisfaction or happiness probably isn't really contingent upon like player decisions and injury management. I understand that. I'm not trying to bag on Sean here.

Starting point is 00:09:36 But I'm saying is there's this inherent pressure when you don't give an injury update and we're seeing things and we're reporting things. And then all of a sudden, nothing is adding up and it's causing confusion in Broncos country. players, I mean, fans are getting mad at the player, whereas Sean, if Sean would just come out and say, you know, Dre's dealing with this injury, it's, it's kind of been a little more, he said it was nebulous this week, the recovery of it. But if he just came out and said, you know, he suffered a setback. It's not where it needs to be just yet. Then I think that Broncos country would say, okay, now we at least have an idea on what's going on. We're going to continue this story. And we're also going to go through a little bit more depth in detail as to how the Broncos could advance without him here on today's episode Lockdown Broncos. Today's episode Lockdown Broncos is brought to you our friends over there at prize picks. The Daily Fantasy app we're making the right call can actually pay off.

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Starting point is 00:11:05 It's good to be right. Today's Lockdown Brock is brought to you by friends over there at Mazda. This is brought to you by Mazda is moving the game forward for those who believe it's not just about playing the game. It's about redefining it. And there are moments that do more than but points on the board. They move crowds, move culture, and keep moving the game forward. This week's moment that moved the game forward is Nick Benito with his two-sacque performance against the Los Angeles Charters. Benito was a bright spot showcasing his first snap, his bend, and beating a really good

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Starting point is 00:13:05 And granted, at times you want to protect the player, but also the player. And I want this is where my characterization of Drey Greenlaw really comes in because I see a lot of fans. I see a lot of fans saying, oh, he's Randy Gregory, two, Oh, you know, Dre's just sitting there collecting a check. I think that's disingenuous because that's not Dre Greene law. I can tell you, I can tell you, I've seen it. And if you talk to Dre, this guy loves football, this guy wants to be on the field with his teammates so badly.

Starting point is 00:13:32 And nobody, nobody is as frustrated about this injury than Dre himself. If Drake could go out there and suit up and play, he totally would. But it's about being smart. It's about being safe in the long haul because the goal is to have him, look, we'd love to have Dre on the field now. But the goal is to have Dre down the stretch. If Dre's back and he's playing in December and let's say the Broncos are in position for the playoffs, you want Dre to be there for that, right? Soft tissue injuries are Ricky. The quad injury, this initial one we talked about, it dates all the way back to April. He recovered for about four to seven weeks there,

Starting point is 00:14:07 comes back, goes through two weeks of practice, two and a half weeks of practice, suffers a pull and suffers a scare where Sean Payton comes on and says it's scar tissue related. And that he should be fine, he should be good to go. They're not worried about it. And then apparently suffers another setback. Dre is trying to get ready. Dre is trying to play, but it's apparent that the quad right now is just not cooperating with him. So what does this mean in terms of the timeline for Dre and his return? At least we know, at least it's going to be out for four games. But now he can rest. He can get off of it. And then when he does step on the field, which he could step on the field at times this week. But it could be a limited workload.

Starting point is 00:14:45 it could just be simply something is stretching. That's what they're doing with Malcolm Roach right now in the side fill. Is he dealing with that calf injury that he's dealing with respectively here? But for Dre, it's about being smart, is about getting extra treatment. And rest can do a lot. But this is the trick with soft tissue injuries is you can have four to seven weeks of rest where you get into a good spot and then just one sudden movement sets you back. And a lot of people are mad at Dre Greenlaw.

Starting point is 00:15:11 A lot of people are saying that Dre is a bust of a signing. I think Dre will play this year. I want to be on the record of saying that, but I think it's about getting him on the field at the right time. Could the Broncos use him now? Yes. Could they use him next week, the week after, the week after that? Absolutely, 110%.

Starting point is 00:15:25 We're not discounting that. But you also have to let Dre get to a spot where he's comfortable and that the training staff and Dre himself feel okay saying, hey, I can go, I can go. And it may take time. The Broncos, they signed him to a three-year deal. They have time. Yes, you want him now.

Starting point is 00:15:41 It's frustrating. He's not available to make his debut now. but he will make his debut at some point. But I think how this has been gone about a little bit has put some stress on this fan base and has created a hostile outlook towards a guy like Trey Greenlaw, who doesn't deserve that. And look, I'm sitting here as a beat reporter. I have no interest to gain from talking about this. But I like to approach things from a different perspective, far too often the media.

Starting point is 00:16:05 We have a lot of guys. It's just, it's transactional. It's, you know, it's a gladiator sport. I understand that. For so many fans, it is viewed like it's the gladiators at the colseum. I don't view it that way and I'm never going to go about my reporting that way when I talk about these players. I have the chance to kind of build relationships with these guys and you get to know them as human beings. I think that part is the most important element about what I do.

Starting point is 00:16:25 And if you don't like that, that's fine. You want to call me if someone who's going to suck up and kiss up? I'm not going to do that, but I'm going to be a fair human being to these guys. And I understand at the end of the day, the NFL, yes, it's a business. You as fans. You pay money. You pay and you buy jerseys, you buy tickets to go to these games. You want to see the best players on the field.

Starting point is 00:16:43 I understand it. but don't be mad at the player for being injured. He wants to play. He wants to be on the field so bad, and he's just not able to do that. So that is an obstacle that the Broncos are, in fact, dealing with right now. Dre's disappointed.

Starting point is 00:16:56 Dre's frustrated, but the Broncos, they're standing by him. And I can tell you this. You talk to any guy in that locker room about Dre Greenlaw since he's come in. They got nothing but rave reviews. They love Dre as a person. They love him as a teammate. He brings a different energy to that room there. And it's been very difficult for Dre in this process,

Starting point is 00:17:13 especially when he talk about his injury history. Drey's very cognizant of that. I just feel like fans can be a little unforgiving at times. And if I can shed a little humanity in on the situation and bring to all of you what we know, the details, the facts about it, the timeline, then it can maybe make sense of some things, right? Ultimately, he's not on the field.

Starting point is 00:17:33 He won't be on the field, at least for the next four weeks, but hopefully here soon. We can see him in a uniform making his debut at a very important position. So how do the Broncos advance right? now without him. You do have Alex Singleton. You've got Justin Sternard. These two players will continue to be the starters until Drey returns into the mix. Drew Sanders is nowhere close to a return yet. And you have Lavelle Bailey. You have Garrett Wallo. You got a practice squad guys, Karen A Reed as well, who's obviously on the 53. You have flexibility that you can have with these guys. Do you look at the

Starting point is 00:18:03 free agent market? I can tell you right now, there's nobody in my opinion that, you know, where you can look at. Maybe you can look at a potential practice squad poaching from a other team. Maybe you call up a team and inquire about a trade. It's always a possibility, but I think that Denver is going to focus on their development here further. And I think it's safe to say when we go into next season's discussions about top team needs, I think we can say linebacker, tight end, are absolutely 1A, 1B, the highest priority positions that this team needs to target, whether it be free agency, whether it be the NFL draft. There has to be an emphasis on getting game changers here and maybe even guys you can draft and continue to

Starting point is 00:18:44 develop. I know Kenyon Sadiq out of Oregon. I'm a Ducks fan. I love what Kenyon Sadiq can bring to the table. He's a true Joker would be a great fit for Sean Payton. You would love to maybe add a player like that. Are there any linebackers though inside backers? It's a little too early for us to tell what that draft class is going to look like next year.

Starting point is 00:19:01 But we do know with certainty, these are the top two positional needs right now and going into next offseason here. Broncos country, I'm not trying to ask too much for me. I'm just saying, hey, when it comes to these players, give the players a little bit of grace. They've been put in some tough situations here. And certainly when there's no clarity on a player's injury, yes, the team has a little bit of control on that in a sense because Sean doesn't want that to get out. But once again, don't get mad at the player. If the player could tell everybody what's going on, he certainly would.

Starting point is 00:19:28 The team's trying to protect theirs and the player's best interest. I understand it at the end of the day here. But don't be mad at Drey Greenlaw. So with this, do what you want with it. But I feel like we needed to make a bonus episode here, the Drey Greenlaw. episode as you get ready for this next week here of Broncos football. What that said, Broncos country, Sarah Beddinger, myself, we will be back tomorrow for another episode, Locked on Broncos.

Starting point is 00:19:50 We appreciate you so much. Thanks for Rock with us. Make sure you subscribe or follow wherever you get your podcast or on YouTube. We'll see you then.

Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - The REAL STORY Surrounding Denver Broncos Linebacker Dre Greenlaw

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