Broncos defensive end Matt Henningsen’s curiosity ignited his passion for math and physics as a child.

He wanted to learn how the things he used on a daily basis, like cellphones, worked. How could someone make a call from the other side of the world? How can someone’s phone screen completely change just by touching it?

The basic functions of a device that some might take for granted fascinated him. For Henningsen, it was magic. And he needed to know the answers.

“(You can) touch a screen, and something new pops up,” he said. “… That’s kind of crazy.”

On a Broncos roster that features a Super Bowl champion quarterback, an All-Pro cornerback and safety, and the son of a World Series champion, Henningsen might be the most interesting player in the locker room.

In high school, he joined a local chess league and was a part of the national Spanish and science honor societies.

At the University of Wisconsin, he earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and master’s in electrical and computer engineering. When he felt his professors’ lectures didn’t dig into enough detail, he’d go on YouTube and search for videos that further explained the topic.

At one point during his time in Madison, he was asked to help develop a machine-learning algorithm that could identify the location of a blood clot in the brain. He did that, too.

Simply put, if Alex Singleton and Josey Jewell are considered the Bash Brothers of Denver’s defense, then Henningsen is Peter Parker.

“It’s crazy how he’s doing those engineering papers on top of football,” Broncos defensive end Zach Allen said. “I don’t know how he does it.”

The youngest of four brothers, Matt was always in the highest level math classes when he was growing up in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin. As an eighth grader, he took high school-level courses.

His dad, Pete, can count the number of times Matt received a B on an assignment in high school and college. He finished with a 4.0 GPA at both stops.

That’s just the way things were done in the Henningsen household.

“If one of our brothers got a poor grade, we would make fun of him for it,” Joe, the second-oldest brother, who is seven years Matt’s senior, told The Denver Post. “You didn’t get by with that kind of performance in our household. We held each other to a high standard.”

Henningsen’s brilliance in the classroom led to him being approached by Walter Block, a biomedical engineering professor at Wisconsin, about joining a six-person team to help develop a machine-learning network to aid neurosurgeons in detecting brain hemorrhages.

Block, who had known Henningsen since his sophomore year through research experiences at school, said the project started in 2019. It took two years to complete.“It can be used by surgeons to identify where the (blood) clot is and how much they need to take out in the extraction of the blood clot,” Henningsen explained to The Post. “Essentially, it’s something that will automatically find the clot in the brain when you feed in the MRI image.”

Henningsen, 24, was tasked with examining hundreds of images from 27 patients to identify the hemorrhage and edema. He also helped review the manuscript, which was published in the journal Magnetic Resonance Imaging this year.

“He had to pick up skills like being a neuroradiologist,” Block said. “Each patient had 40 to 50 images (and he) would have to go through those.”

Henningsen has worked with Block on several projects in the past. Block showed Henningsen how to use an MRI machine and taught his brother Joe, a biomedical engineering major at Wisconsin and now an orthopedic surgery resident in Dayton, Ohio.

Even though Henningsen had football obligations, Joe convinced him to get involved in labs because he did it as an undergraduate student and knew it would be a good experience. It also fed into Matt’s inquisitive demeanor.

Matt was the problem solver in the family, Joe said. If the Henningsens had a movie night and the sound system stopped working, Matt was the one who would get up and try to figure out how to fix it.

“Beep, bop, boop on the buttons to figure it out,” Joe said. “I think it’s a level of curiosity and willingness to solve all problems. That drove him to be an engineer.”

Naturally, Henningsen’s desire to learn has translated to the football field, too.

Hell-bent on understanding every detail of formations, schemes and what the opponent is trying to do, he is a student of the game. And Allen says Henningsen’s high IQ has been beneficial for the rest of the players in the defensive line room.

Allen, who signed with Denver in the offseason from the Arizona Cardinals, said it can be hard staying on point with all the defensive looks because of the numerous plays they run, but Henningsen has been consistent with staying on top of everything. “He’s definitely a big asset to our (defensive line),” Allen added.

“When guys are confused about something, you can always ask Matt,” defensive lineman Elijah Garcia said. “He’s going to know exactly where everyone needs to be, even if it’s not his position.”

Football wasn’t guaranteed for Henningsen. He was the first walk-on since at least 1990 to start a season opener at Wisconsin. He was eventually put on scholarship and started in 29 of 42 career games, recording 91 total tackles (13 for loss), eight sacks and three fumble recoveries, returning two for touchdowns.

After four seasons with the Badgers, Henningsen was selected by the Broncos with the 206th pick in the sixth round of the 2022 NFL draft. Still, making the roster as a late-round selection wasn’t a sure thing.

“From my standpoint, playing for a Big Ten school as a walk-on is exceeding expectations,” Joe said. “For (Matt), that’s not enough.”

At the moment, Matt is trying to make the most out of football, but he still has goals of being an engineer down the road. He has flirted with the idea of doing something in image processing or medical imaging and data analytics. “Who knows where my career can go?” he said.

Allen is astounded by Henningsen’s intelligence, not to mention his abilty to balance engineering and football. Just don’t expect him to read any of Henningsen’s papers.

“(Heck) no,” Allen said. “I got enough stuff to do,”