Dre Greenlaw Injury Update: When Will Dre Greenlaw Return?
Dre Greenlaw’s injury situation with the Broncos is a bit of a rollercoaster, honestly. Here’s the headline: he’s still not back and after missing yet another practice this week, the answer to “When’s Dre Greenlaw returning?” is a solid “Not quite yet, folks.” If you were planning to sneak him onto your fantasy roster this weekend, I wouldn’t do it not unless you enjoy heartbreak or the thrill of rooting for backups you can barely remember.
But let’s rewind a little. Greenlaw, who arrived in Denver on a shiny three-year deal, tweaked his quadriceps way back in April during an offseason workout. That injury? A real momentum killer. First, the team called it a tear; then, they softened the official statement, mentioning a strain that would side-line him for roughly eight weeks. These things have a way of morphing, don’t they? You start out thinking, “Alright, just a couple more Sunday barbecues without Dre,” and then you blink and suddenly half the season’s gone.
Training camp was supposed to be his redemption arc, but on July 31, Greenlaw exited practice early the kind of “early exit” that only draws more worried glances from fans and fantasy managers. Since then, he’s been more of a sideline fixture, occasionally seen doing light work off to the side but never fully blending back in with the lineup. There was one glimmer of hope last Friday with a “limited practice” basically, Broncos fans squinting at blurry practice footage, hoping to spot signs of a comeback, but come Wednesday, he was back to the “out” list. Maybe he missed the memo on which day was comeback day.
Coach Sean Payton can be kind of cryptic, you know? He called Greenlaw’s recovery “nebulous,” as if injury reports were weather forecasts “partly cloudy with a chance of Dre Greenlaw.” You want a straight answer, you get philosophical musings. Payton’s main point seems to be that they’re playing the long game, being conservative, treating the whole thing “smartly.” That’s fine, unless you’re a defense struggling to cover tight ends and feeling Greenlaw’s absence every snap. I’d say keeping a star back for the long haul makes sense, but every time Jonathan Taylor steamrolls your backup linebackers, even the smart guys start getting twitchy.
The actual timeline? Still cloudy with a chance of more waiting. The team skipping injured reserve means maybe they believe he’ll be back in the next couple weeks, but, honestly, I wouldn’t bet my lunch money on it. If you’ve watched the Broncos D lately, it’s pretty clear: they’re missing that Greenlaw edge. Backup Justin Strnad keeps filling in, but it’s a very “just-get-by” situation, not a magic turnaround. And shoutout to fellow fans we keep refreshing practice reports, hoping for a magical “full practice” icon next to Greenlaw’s name, but right now the best we get is encouragement to “temper expectations until further notice”.
Maybe Dre’s first Broncos action comes in Week 4, maybe Week 5, maybe the football gods are just testing Denver fans’ patience. Anyway, there’s nothing to do but wait, hope, and keep the memes coming in group chats. Injuries stink, uncertainty stinks more, and the only thing darker than a sidelined star’s prognosis is a linebacker room facing Justin Herbert without him.
