The Lead

The Broncos will begin the upcoming season on the biggest stage under the brightest lights.

Denver is scheduled to visit the Chiefs on "Monday Night Football" in Week 1, and for inside linebacker Alex Singleton, there is no better way for the team to start its 2026 campaign.

"I mean, what else do you want?" Singleton said at his second annual Special Olympics cornhole tournament on Friday. "Set a tempo early. And that's what that opportunity gives us."

Singleton said the early test will be especially important as Denver enters this season with heightened expectations after hosting last year's AFC Championship Game. This season, following a matchup with a division rival in Week 1, the Broncos will battle 2025 playoff teams in five consecutive weeks.

"Now, we're not chasing targets anymore," Singleton said. "We're the target, I think, in the AFC. We need to know that. … Everyone's going to want to beat us, everybody's going to want to knock us down. So, now it's our job to remember that and practice and prepare with that target on our back and go do what we want to do."

Singleton is confident that Denver is poised to do so, largely due to the retention of several critical players. The Broncos re-signed Singleton and inside linebacker Justin Strnad in March, and the duo joined multiple other members of the Broncos' defense who have been re-signed and extended in recent years.

While Singleton said "it's everything to stay here" for him personally, he also stressed that the widespread continuity will be instrumental as one of the league's premier defensive units sets its sights even higher in 2026.

"I think it's everything," Singleton said of the consistency. "We're in an organization right now, that's [done] what they've said — what [Head Coach Sean Payton] has said from Day 1 — he's going to keep the guys here who are going to win football games for us, and he's done that."

With OTAs set to begin this week, Singleton is eager to take the field with familiar faces and start building toward Denver's next set of goals.

"To play in this defense, I can't wait," Singleton said. "I can't wait until we get started. It's just going to be a lot of fun."