Matt Henningsen will not be available to the Broncos in 2025. The third-year Broncos defensive end suffered a torn Achilles, head coach Sean Payton said (via Chris Tomasson of the Denver Gazette).
As a result of the injury, Henningsen will miss the coming campaign. The 2022 sixth-rounder managed to take part in every regular season game during his first two Denver seasons, but that will not be the case this time around. Henningsen’s attention will turn to a lengthy recovery process ahead of 2026, the final year of his rookie contract.
The 26-year-old maintained a steady workload across the 2023 and ’24 campaigns, handling a 20% snap share on defense. Henningsen has also chipped in on special teams, logging 375 snaps in that regard. The Wisconsin product has amassed 40 tackles and one sack to date, but those figures will not change until the 2026 season at the earliest.
Denver has Nik Bonitto and Jonathon Cooper set to reprise their roles as starters along the edge. The interior of the team’s defensive line will also have continuity with Zach Allen, D.J. Jones and John Franklin-Myers returning from last season. That defensive front will be expected to remain among the league’s best as the Broncos attempt to improve off last year’s success.
Losing Henningsen will deal a blow to the team’s depth up front, though. Denver could look to add a depth piece at the defensive end spot as a replacement option, although with roughly $5.5MM in cap space the team is currently near the bottom of the league in available funds.