Broncos’ tight end woes continue into third year
DENVER – The Denver Broncos have spent years trying to solve their tight end troubles.
Their inadequate coverage of tight ends and inability to get much production from their own are two of the biggest reasons they’ve fallen so far from their Super Bowl perch and have been looking up at the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC West since 2016.
Both problems appeared to be fixed this season thanks to an influx of talent on defense and a return to health of Jake Butt, who missed his rookie season last year after tearing up his right knee in his final game at Michigan.
Yet, Butt’s season is over after he tore his left ACL at a walkthrough practice Thursday and the Broncos haven’t shown much progress in throttling opposing tight ends, either. In their opener, the Broncos allowed Seattle’s Will Dissly to become the first tight end in league history to top 100 yards receiving and score a touchdown in his NFL debut, one that included a 66-yard rumble featuring four missed tackles.
Butt’s third ACL tear was the crushing blow, coming four days before the Broncos (2-1) host the Chiefs (3-0) on Monday night.
“I felt for Jake right away,” Broncos coach Vance Joseph said. “He’s worked so hard for the last two years to get himself back to this point. He was improving every day. He was making plays for us on Sundays. You can see the special ability this player had and the passion. This guy was the same guy every day: happy, fully engaged every day.”
The Broncos promoted third-year tight end Brian Parker from their practice squad Saturday when Butt joined rookie Troy Fumagalli on IR.
That means the Broncos’ tight end group now consists of two undrafted players in Parker and Matt LaCosse and 2015 third-round draft pick Jeff Heuerman, who has just 23 career catches and two touchdowns.
“He’s been a good pass-catcher for us,” Joseph said.
Offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave said, “We’re all just broken up about it.”
His loss is a big blow to the Broncos’ special teams, too.
“It’s a huge loss,” special teams coordinator Tom McMahon said. “He’s a great pro, he loves football. I love Jake. This football team loves Jake. How he acts as a man, if my boys can be that guy 10 years from now, I’ll be a very proud dad.”
Covering tight ends has been Denver’s Achilles heel for two years.
It was a big reason they didn’t make the playoffs in 2016 and last year they allowed the third-fewest yards (3,395) in the NFL, but tight ends accounted for 1,023 of those yards – third-most in the league.