Matthew D. Henningsen (born July 9, 1999) is an American professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formation (American football), formations over the years have substantially ...

for the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football team based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC West, West division. The team is headquartered in E ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

Wisconsin Badgers The Wisconsin Badgers are the College athletics in the United States, athletic teams representing the University of Wisconsin–Madison. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I ...

Professional career

Henningsen was selected by the

in the sixth round, 206th overall, of the

2022 NFL draft The 2022 NFL draft was the 87th edition of the National Football League's annual NFL draft, draft and was held from April 28–30, 2022, at the Caesars Forum on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, Paradise next to Las Vegas. The first round ...

. He appeared in all 17 games as a rookie. He finished with one sack and 21 total tackles. In the 2023 season, he appeared in all 17 games and had 19 total tackles and two passes defended. On August 27, 2024, Henningsen was waived by the Broncos. The next day, he was re-signed to the Broncos' practice squad. He signed a reserve/future contract on January 13, 2025.

Personal Life

Outside of football, Henningsen is an avid chess player, streaming on Twitch.tv. He also plays the fantasy role-playing game

Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) originally created and designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical ...

. Henningsen has a

bachelor's A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ( ...

and a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

in electrical engineering, and has contributed to

neurosurgery Neurosurgery or neurological surgery, known in common parlance as brain surgery, is the specialty (medicine), medical specialty that focuses on the surgical treatment or rehabilitation of disorders which affect any portion of the nervous system ...

research efforts at UW–Madison. Henningsen has three brothers, all of whom also played football at Menomonee Falls and earned degrees at UW–Madison. His parents both worked as lawyers.

References

External links

Denver Broncos bio

Wisconsin Badgers bio
1999 births Living people American football defensive tackles American football defensive ends American people of Scandinavian descent Wisconsin Badgers football players Denver Broncos players Sportspeople from Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin Players of American football from Wisconsin 21st-century American sportsmen {{Defensive-lineman-1990s-stub