While the Denver Broncos brought in Dre Greenlaw to start at inside linebacker, it appears there will be competition at the other spot, with Justin Strnad returning on a one-year deal.
Denver Broncos re-sign LB Justin Strnad
Justin Strnad will be back in Denver this season for his sixth year in the league. After being one of the Broncos best special teams aces over the course of the last three seasons, Strnad is returning and will compete for a starting job alongside Drew Sanders, Levelle Bailey, and one would imagine, Alex Singleton.
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The move was first reported by Zac Stevens of DNVR on Wednesday morning. Strnad’s returning on a one-year deal for $2.7M, fully guaranteed.
In 2024, Strnad finally jumped into a starting role after Singleton tore his ACL in Week 3 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He finished with 48 tackles, three sacks, and four quarterback hits last season.
Strnad mentioned to Mike Klis of 9News that he was going to be in the mix to compete for a starting job.
“They told me I’m going to compete to be a starter,” Strnad said. “Another year.”
With Dre Greenlaw receiving a three-year deal in free agency, that means his spot on the defense is already cemented as a starter.
Singleton is running full speed at this point of his recovery from last year’s ACL injury and should be on track for training camp. Sanders will remain at inside linebacker full-time after spending his first two years flipping between off-ball and edge rusher. Bailey is a young player who impressed the Broncos all throughout training camp last year.
If Strnad doesn’t beat out Singleton, Sanders, or Bailey for the starting job next to Greenlaw, he’ll still have a massive impact on the Broncos special teams unit that is now being overseen by Darren Rizzi.
Former Broncos LB Cody Barton signed with the Tennessee Titans, and Denver’s only other unrestricted free agent, Zach Cunningham, is still unsigned.
The new league year becomes official today at 2:00 p.m. MT.
