Aric DiLalla

ENGLEWOOD, Colo.After suffering a foot injury during Saturday's practice, linebacker Drew Sanders is expected to miss several weeks, according to Head Coach Sean Payton.

"The news for us was good news, in that it's a ligament in his foot and it's not a tendon," Payton said. "What does that mean? It's going to be certainly north of four to six weeks, but the tendon is what we were concerned about. I'm not going to try to spell it, but the ligament repair is a much easier one than that of a tendon. We were all pretty happy with that."

Payton said the injury can be treated via both surgical and nonsurgical avenues, and he said Sanders is "doing the right thing right now, kind of exploring those options."

As Sanders rehabs his injury, Payton said the Broncos' depth "just changes the short-term" and that the team will evaluate how to allocate reps to other players at the position.

"I'm saying four to six [to] seven, eight weeks," Payton said. "We'll look at that position closely and understand the reps and how we have to approach it."

A third-year player, Sanders has appeared in 21 regular-season games in his career. After suffering an Achilles injury during the 2024 offseason, he returned to play in the Broncos' final four regular-season games, as well as Denver's postseason game in Buffalo. He recorded eight tackles, a tackle for loss, a quarterback hit and a sack last season.

The Broncos selected Sanders in the third round of the 2023 NFL Draft after he recorded 9.5 sacks and 13.5 tackles for loss in his final collegiate season at Arkansas.