Sean Payton vowed the Broncos will “do right’ with injured linebacker Jonas Griffith.

The Denver coach said Monday the team will reach an injury settlement with Griffith, who was waived last Tuesday without an injury designation. On Friday, Griffith, who missed last season with a torn left ACL, wrote on social media that he will need another ACL surgery on the same knee.

“(Doctors) discovered more of an issue with his ACL,” Payton said. “It wasn’t one event specific. So, in the end there will be an injury settlement, which is pretty common. What isn’t common is finishing the season and playing like he did and then discovering that this is a little bit more significant than we thought. We’re going to certainly do right by the player and take care of him. He’s somebody who has busted his tail for the better part of two years trying to stay healthy.”

Payton said the situation has been “tough on” Griffith and “tough on everyone.” Griffith played in all three of Denver’s preseason games but ended up losing the competition to start at inside linebacker to Cody Barton.

Griffith was undrafted out of Indiana State in 2020. He joined the Broncos in 2021 after a trade from San Francisco and started four of the 13 games he played in 2021 and eight of the nine he played in 2022. His season ended early in 2022 due to a broken foot and then missed last year.

Calls about Sutton

Wide receiver Courtland Sutton has been subject this year of trade rumors, and Payton didn’t deny the Broncos have received calls on him.

“I’m going to say in the last three months, there have been multiple teams called Courtland,’’ Payton said. “He’s a good football player.”

Sutton was disappointed during the offseason about the Broncos not reworking his contract and he stayed away from spring drills until attending a mandatory minicamp in June. The Broncos just before the start of training in late July added $1.5 million in possible incentives to his contract for this season, which means he could make as much as $15.2 million.

Sutton is on the books to make $13.5 million in 2025 in the final year of his contract. But none of it is guaranteed.

Backup job still in doubt

Payton said Monday he had no update on whether Jarrett Stidham or Zach Wilson will be the backup quarterback behind rookie Bo Nix for Sunday’s opener at Seattle.

“I’ll settle it and keep you guys posted,” he told reporters.

Stidham and Wilson both will be in uniform against the Seahawks. One will be the backup and the other the emergency third quarterback who only can play if the other two quarterbacks are injured.

Depth at linebacker

With the Broncos needing depth at inside linebacker, they brought in veteran Kristian Welch.

“We still felt like inside linebacker was an area of need for us,’’ Payton said of the move last Thursday, two days after the initial 53-man roster was set. “We went into kind of the final 53 cut down looking at that position. He was someone that stood out on film.”

The Broncos saw Welch with the Packers in a joint practice Aug. 16 and a preseason game Aug. 18, but Payton said his entire “body of work” was evaluated.

After signing Welch, the Broncos waived rookie inside linebacker Levelle Bailey. After Bailey cleared waivers last Friday, The Denver Gazette reported he would join Denver’s practice squad, and the move was made official Monday when the Broncos returned to practice after being off for three days.

Briefly