Denver's Linebacker Room Was Already Thin. Now It's One Injury From Empty.

I wrote yesterday about the Broncos entering camp with their linebacker room down two and Jonathon Cooper's legal situation hanging over the whole position. Nothing has changed on that front — Cooper's arraignment is still scheduled for August 31, a date that lands right in the middle of final roster cuts — but it's worth pausing on just how little margin Denver actually has here.

The depth chart at linebacker shows Alex Singleton and Justin Strnad as the only two who logged meaningful snaps last season. That's it. Singleton is 32, which raises its own succession questions regardless of what happens this summer. Strnad is the entire backup plan. Dasan McCullough is listed third, but he has no observed playing time to speak of. Turner going on NFI removes a body the room could not afford to lose, and if Cooper's situation resolves badly — suspension, release, or both — Denver would be running a two-man rotation at a position that typically carries three.

The Gargiulo PUP is a separate problem on the offensive line, but the linebacker situation is the one that keeps compounding. It was thin before the legal trouble. It was thin before Turner went down. My read is that the Broncos need to add at least one linebacker with actual game experience before the roster deadline, because right now a single soft-tissue injury to Singleton or Strnad turns a depth problem into a genuine crisis.