OFFICE: Broncos’ Brightest Young Offensive Star Placed on IR after Training-Camp Hamstring Injury

The Denver Broncos have placed defensive lineman Matt Henningsen on injured reserve after he suffered a torn Achilles during last week’s joint practice with the San Francisco 49ers. Henningsen was initially designated waived/injured; after clearing waivers, he reverted to Denver’s IR and will miss the entire 2025 season, head coach Sean Payton confirmed. 

“He’ll be having surgery when we get back to Denver… it did come back as an Achilles tear,” Payton said. “I hate that for him, and that’ll put him out for the season.”

Henningsen went down during a one-on-one period roughly an hour into the joint session and was helped to the training area on site, per local reports. Early fears of a significant injury were realized following imaging and Payton’s postgame update.

Henningsen’s loss trims Denver’s interior/odd-front rotation and special-teams depth. The staff will redistribute snaps across the defensive line group and elevate depth options as preseason continues, with an eye on maintaining early-down run sturdiness while preserving pass-rush sub-packages. (Denver also made a corresponding roster move by signing DB Gregory Junior as Henningsen went to waived/injured.)

Because Henningsen cleared waivers and reverted to IR, he remains under club control while rehabbing. With Payton declaring him out for 2025, the target shifts to recovery and a potential return for 2026 training camp following surgery. 

Denver will monitor internal competition for rotation snaps through the remaining preseason dates and finalize contingency plans before cutdown. The emphasis, coaches said, is on “next-man-up” execution and protecting the unit’s early-down floor while special teams replace a reliable core contributor

If you’d like, I can spin a quick social caption + hashtags and a 12–15s reel script announcing the IR move for your Broncos page.