One year after being diagnosed with testicular cancer, Denver Broncos inside linebacker Alex Singleton was awarded one of the high honors of the NFL regular season.

The league announced Thursday that Singleton has been named AFC Defensive Player of the Month for October.

In the midst of a fantastic fifth year in Denver, Singleton is indeed deserving of the award for his work from Weeks 4-8, when he notched 68 total tackles, five tackles for loss, five quarterback hits, and two sacks. He won Defensive Player of the Week for his 19-tackle effort against the Cardinals.

“It was sick," he said of taking home DPOW. "It is one of those really cool things that when my kids don’t believe me one day that this is what I did that I can be able to show them.”

Singleton, a longtime defensive captain, currently leads the league in tackles (101) — 19 more than the second-leading tackler, Titans LB Anthony Hill Jr. He's also grading out as the sport's 10th-best LB among 76 qualifiers, according to Pro Football Focus.

“He’s very important. He’s the green dot," Broncos defensive coordinator Vance Joseph said of Singleton on Oct. 29. "He’s been with us four years now, and there are certain things that he can fix during the week that I don’t have to fix any longer. It’s meetings on Fridays where it’s him and his teammates. That’s the way it has to be with a veteran like Alex. His tackling has been always very good. So it’s fun to see him get recognized for being a big-time player because to me, he’s been a special player for four years now. He’s had 171 tackles, 156 tackles. I think what, 137 last year and he missed two games. So he’s been special in my mind for four seasons.”

More Where That Came From

Singleton is on pace for roughly 215 tackles this season, which would break the NFL single-season record (214) set by Hardy Nickerson in 1993. He'd also become the first Broncos player with 200-plus tackles in a single year since Randy Gradishar accomplished that feat in 1983.

The veteran 'backer will have a chance to add to his growing total in Week 9, facing a Carolina Panthers offense that ranks 22nd in rushing offense, with RB Chuba Hubbard accounting for about 70 percent of Carolina's total carries per game.