ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- Denver Broncos coach Sean Payton is a fervent believer in the football callus -- the long-term benefits of snaps played in preseason games and building toward autumn physicality in the summer.
It is why he also believes some players "express themselves" far better than others when the full pads finally come on. And when the Broncos successfully pursued linebacker Dre Greenlaw in free agency earlier this year, it was largely because Payton sees Greenlaw as one of the most expressive players in the league.
"He's impressive when you put the tape on," Payton said. "And there are certain players that really express themselves in the full gear, and he'll be one of them."
The Broncos finished the 2024 season with one of the league's best defenses. They led the league with a franchise-record 63 sacks, finished third in scoring defense and led in defensive EPA (a statistical measure of how a defense performs compared to expectation) by a significant margin.
But from November until January, the Broncos also saw opponents find success against the middle of that defense. Ravens' quarterback Lamar Jackson had just three incompletions on the way to three touchdown passes, Jameis Winston threw for 497 yards to go with four touchdowns and Joe Burrow threw for 412 yards and three touchdowns -- all after Nov. 1. The Bills were the exclamation point, rushing for 129 yards in the first half of a wild-card win over the Broncos.
Enter the physical, active and big-game proven Greenlaw, who spent the past six seasons with the 49ers. He's the centerpiece of a defensive refurbishment that included the signing of former All-Pro safety Talanoa Hufanga and selection of first-round cornerback Jahdae Barron.
"We just thought ... we had a really good defense last year, [but] you're always thinking how can we take it to the next level?" general manager George Paton said. "And Sean has talked about, that's why it was important for us to strength at all three levels -- Greenlaw, Hufanga down the middle of the defense, just build on a strength when you have them."
The first two weeks of training camp have provided the first full, in-person look at Greenlaw in the middle of the defense. He missed the drills and 11-on-11 work in the team's offseason program due to a thigh injury, but he has been easy to spot in the summer work.
Payton has said Greenlaw, like several other players who are returning from injury, will be on a "pitch count" of sorts in training camp as well as the preseason. He expects Greenlaw to be fully healthy by Week 1.
"I just like to play football," Greenlaw said Monday, his first public comments since he signed with Denver this past March. "... You never know when it's going to be your last chance on the field, your last chance to play, so you want to make a statement anytime you can."
Greenlaw is set to play next to linebacker Alex Singleton, who led the Broncos in tackles in both 2022 and 2023 before tearing his ACL in Week 4 last season. Greenlaw has shown himself to be just as active as Singleton, with the ability force the issue at the line of scrimmage.
"He plays the position in such a way where you can't help but notice it on film," Payton said. "His pad level, his strength, his lower body strength. It's impressive ... He plays like Mike Tyson. He's tough. He's physical. He's built that way. There's not a lot of leaky yardage. He's a knock-back tackler. They stop where he hits them."
One of those stops from Greenlaw's 49ers tenure came in Week 17 of the 2019 season against the Seahawks. On fourth-and-goal, the then-rookie linebacker knocked down tight end Mike Hollister just before the goal line with less than 10 seconds left in the game. The 26-21 win secured the 49ers an NFC West title, and they reached Super Bowl LIV just over a month later.
Over the next five seasons, Greenlaw delivered a long list of sideline-to-sideline highlights. He almost inexplicably never made the Pro Bowl despite recording 80-plus tackles in four seasons (2019, 2020, 2022 and 2023). Some personnel executives in the league would quickly name Greenlaw as one of the biggest Pro Bowl snubs in those years; Broncos defensive coordinator Vance Joseph even referred to Greenlaw as a "Pro-Bowl-type" player.
But in the seasons when Greenlaw wasn't in Pro Bowl contention, he found himself wrestling injuries as he played three and two games in the 2021 and 2024 seasons, respectively. The most serious of those injuries was a torn left Achilles in the second quarter of Super Bowl LVIII to close out the 2023 season.
Greenlaw did not return to the field until Dec. 12 last season, when he had eight tackles in 30 snaps against the Rams. A week later, he sustained a calf injury after four snaps in Miami, and San Francisco shut him down for the year.
The salary-cap strapped 49ers still wanted to keep Greenlaw despite his injury history, so much so that Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch flew to Texas to try to convince Greenlaw to stay. Instead, he agreed to a three-year, $31.5 million deal with Denver.
Greenlaw has paid attention to the Broncos' recent defensive success -- he said they have had "one of the best defenses for quite some time now" -- and wanted to join in on that ascension.
"I know last year they really took that [up a] notch, and I just wanted to be a part of that," Greenlaw said. "I wanted to be where I was accepted, where I was wanted, and this is the right place for me."