Denver Linebacker Says Broncos Will Now Have To Play With A Target On Their Backs

For Denver Broncos linebacker Alex Singleton, getting paid wasn’t just about his family and improving his life. Singleton participates in a number of local charities, and his first text was to Special Olympics Colorado as part of a charity event he’ll be participating in.

The charity will get part of that money, according to Luca Evans of the Denver Post. For a while none of this was certain, but now Singleton will get $11 million in guaranteed money.

Singleton obviously values the money, but he also values that the Broncos as an organization have kept their word. GM George Paton said earlier in the offseason that he would love to re-sign Singleton, but the linebacker also knows that statements like that often don’t mean anything.

Players are often promised the moon at this time of year, and that includes continuity. It’s one thing to say that an organization will retain a successful nucleus, but it’s another to actually do it especially when the restrictions of the salary cap come calling.

“I think it’s everything,” Singleton said Friday. “Coaches say it all the time, like — ‘Ah, if we could just run it back, we could go be better.’ And then they let half the guys go, and sign all these free agents, and you’re just like, ‘Well, were they lying to us? What was the upstairs thinking?’”

Now players like Singleton don’t have to wonder. All of the moves have been made, and nearly all of the key players from last year’s defense has been brought back. That led to a 14-3 record last year, but Singleton knows there’s another step to be taken.

“We’re in an organization right now that, what they’ve said is completely true,” the linebacker added. “What [coach] Sean [Payton] has said since Day 1 — he’s going to keep the guys here, they’re going to win football games for us — he’s done that.

And now, we’ve had a year of winning where we got close. Instead of trying to fix something that isn’t broken with new pieces, we just kinda put together the band. And we’re going to see what happens.”

That will lead to a big change, however. Last year the Broncos were an overachieving team trying to make it to the Super Bowl. This year they’ll be something else.

“We’re not chasing targets anymore,” Singleton said during the week when he was asked about the team’s self-expectations. “We’re the target, now, I think, in the AFC. So we need to know that.”

That will also lead to a new kind of confidence, the linebacker said.

“Because you have that confidence where a team finally gives you what you deserve,” Singleton said. “You have that confidence all offseason. So he’s had that already. There isn’t that question of, ‘Oh, what snaps am I going to play?’”

Instead, the Broncos will focus on this season and this season only. They’ll need to have that kind of focus to take that last step and reach the Super Bowl.

“I don’t think we like, really get too caught up in the, like, whole ‘window’ thing,” said fellow linebacker Justin Strnad. “But I definitely think it’s obvious that it’s time for us to do what we want to do.”

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