BLOGS

Broncos Training Camp Preview 2019: Tight Ends

Jun 26, 2019, 6:38 AM

The Broncos want to get back to their winning ways in 2019. They’ve completely revamped the roster with the hopes that this combination of players makes a run at the postseason – or at least plays .500 football or better.

This roster is full of talented players on both sides of the ball, but there are questions that need to be answered during training camp. In this series on 1043TheFan.com, we will go through each position group searching for those answers.

This is the latest part in our Training Camp Preview. Today, we’ll take a deep dive on the tight end position.

***

Current Starter: Jeff Heuerman

There is great debate on whether or not Jeff Heuerman will be the starter to open the regular season. It’s something I’ve already written about when I predicted the Broncos starting lineup on offense a couple of weeks ago. I didn’t think a controversy about that opinion would start, but it did, and here we are.

This isn’t the article to rehash those points, so let me summarize and say that I hope I’m wrong. I hope 2019 first-round pick Noah Fant is the starter for the Broncos from day one. However, if the Broncos want to give a “veteran nod” to Heuerman, then we may see him as the starter. Let’s put that to the side for the moment and look at why the Broncos decided to bring Heuerman back in free agency this offseason.

Denver let Heuerman hit the open market, but he wasn’t out there for long. A third-round pick for the Broncos in the 2015 NFL Draft, Heuerman has been a career disappointment with the Broncos, as he’s failed to stay healthy for a full season and has not produced at the expected level. Coming off a career-high 31-catch season in 2018, Heuerman only made it through 11 games.

That didn’t stop the Broncos from signing Heuerman to a two-year, $9 million contract with $2 million guaranteed and a $1 million signing bonus. They let Heuerman sit on the open market for two days (officially) before bringing him back to the team. Who knows if the decision would’ve been the same if the Broncos could’ve known that Fant would be available to them in the 2019 NFL Draft.

What we do know is that Heuerman is a tough player with the most experience at the position. Last season, he tried to play with broken ribs and a bruised lung before the team shut him down. In addition to being tough, Heuerman is a strong presence as a blocker. He understands leverage and can control his man at the point of attack.

The Broncos are going to have a run-heavy offense in 2019, so having a player like Heuerman on the roster is a must. He needs to play a full season for the first time in his pro career, as he’s the best blocking tight end on the roster. The Broncos need him on the field, securing rushing lanes for Phillip Lindsay and Royce Freeman in 2019. Heuerman may not be a dangerous receiver but his value for the team can be felt in other ways.

***

Future Starter: Noah Fant

We all know that Fant will take over as the starter at some point in the near future – and as aforementioned, it may be at the beginning of the regular season. The Broncos traded back with the Steelers in the first round of the 2019 NFL Draft, moving back from No. 10 to No. 20 overall and acquiring more picks in the process. Quite frankly, the Broncos were lucky Fant was there for them when their selection came up.

The draft class featured two Iowa tight ends that I had with first-round grades in Fant and his college teammate T.J. Hockenson. The Lions selected Hockenson with the No. 8 overall pick, and that made Fant the next best tight end for teams in need at the position. I think quarterbacks like Dwayne Haskins (and Drew Lock) falling in the draft helped the Broncos secure Fant in the first round.

There are numerous things that Fant does well as a dangerous tight end. First, his speed and athleticism stand out from the moment you watch him warm up. In practices this offseason, I watched Fant re-create some of his signatures moves from Iowa on a pro football field. We want that to continue into training camp, the preseason and the regular season, but one thing is certain: His speed and moves will translate.

Fant does a good job of getting by defenders with his long speed. He doesn’t need many steps to change direction without losing much speed, either. Fant is simply too fast for linebackers to cover. He can line up in-line, out wide, from the slot or from the backfield as an H-back.

The rookie tight end should be a mismatch from his first snap, no matter who a defense tasks with covering him. Fant is too fast for linebackers, but he’s also too big for safeties to cover. He measures in at 6-foot-4 and 250 pounds, utilizing his frame to “box out” smaller defenders like he was playing basketball in the low post. Fant’s frame is too big to get around, and his wingspan means that he can merely pluck the ball away from a defender with no chance of having it knocked away or punched out.

He’s got the athleticism to move fluidly through the route tree, and Fant has the sideline awareness and body control to bring in tough catches. He does a good job of working the sideline, naturally getting two feet inbounds without having to look where he’s at on the field. This helps him stand out when making catches near the back of the end zone too.

Fant did have some concentration problems in college, but I haven’t seen those crop up during OTAs and minicamp. Instead, I’ve seen Fant make crisp cuts to get open with ease – and he looks to be building strong chemistry with his quarterback.

Joe Flacco is known to go to his tight end early and often. The last full season that Flacco played (2017), he made a then 37-year-old tight end Ben Watson a 60-plus catch guy.

What can he do for a much younger and incredibly talented prospect like Fant?

***

Reserves: Jake Butt, Troy Fumagalli, Austin Fort, Bug Howard

The group of reserve tight ends the Broncos have must be the best in the league. In fact, two of these players could easily start for another team in the league – maybe even all four of them.

Jake Butt had so much talent coming out of college a few years ago. In a fantastic tight end class, featuring prospects like O.J. Howard and Evan Engram, I thought Butt had one of the best skill sets in that group. If he had not injured his knee in Michigan’s bowl game, I would’ve given Butt a first-round grade just like I did for Engram and Howard.

The Broncos got a value pick when they selected Butt with the first pick in the fifth round of the 2017 NFL Draft. Even though Butt had to miss his entire rookie season in 2017, I felt he had the upside to win the starting job in 2018. Unfortunately for Butt, his 2018 season was cut short by yet another knee injury. He only played in three games last year, but he did start all three, played 97 snaps combined, was targeted 14 times and finished with eight catches for 85 yards.

This offseason, Butt has been working diligently to return from this latest knee injury – the third such injury of his football career. He has been mostly limited to individual drills during OTAs and minicamp, but he has looked good when he does participate. He’s got the size/speed combination to be a mismatch as a receiver across the middle. Butt also has the technique and strength to be an effective blocker when playing as an in-line tight end.

He is your classic “Y” tight end who can thrive as both a receiver and a blocker. That natural talent has always been prevalent with Butt. However, he’s been so injury prone that he may never be able to play up to the potential he had coming out of Michigan.

Like Butt, Troy Fumagalli had to miss his rookie season. A fifth-round pick for the Broncos in the 2018 NFL Draft, Fumagalli came into the league banged up due to a sports hernia. He was able to participate for a bit as a rookie during training camp, but the Broncos decided it was best for him to get a year to recover. They played him on injured reserve at the end of August 2018 and Fumagalli has been recovering ever since.

I entered the offseason thinking that Fumagalli might not make the 53-man roster. In fact, I would’ve pegged him as bound for the practice squad in 2019 had I not been able to see him practice in minicamp and OTAs. Fumagalli was one of the biggest playmakers for the offense during the offseason. Sure, that doesn’t mean he’s a lock for the 53-man roster, but his production is something we should continue to see in training camp and the preseason.

While Butt is a “Y” tight end, Fumagalli is strictly an “F” tight end. He’s dangerous as a receiving threat due to his size and speed, but Fumagalli should not be asked to block too much. Measuring in at 6-feet-6 and 248 pounds, Fumagalli can make difficult catches seem routine. He’s got the catch radius to gather in passes that might be out of reach for smaller tight ends, and Fumagalli’s athleticism means he can play “above the rim” on jump balls if necessary. He can line up out wide, in the slot or even from the backfield as an H-back if called upon.

Fumagalli’s best attributes are his vacuum hands. He arguably had the best hands in his draft class despite the fact he’s missing his left index finger due to a birth defect. Dropped passes were not a thing for Fumagalli in college at Wisconsin, and so far this offseason, I’ve yet to see him drop a pass through multiple full-practice viewings. He could provide the Broncos with a receiving tight end and potential starter if injuries hit the depth chart in front of him.

Butt and Fumagalli have starting potential, but I’m not going to discount what I’ve seen from two sleeper undrafted tight ends on the Broncos roster. It will be much more difficult for either one of these prospects to make the team, so maybe one or both are bound for the practice squad.

I watched Austin Fort participate in the Broncos local pro day earlier this year. As a Wyoming prospect, Fort was able to workout at UC Health Training Center when more than 30 draft hopefuls from the region were able to showcase their talent for the Broncos coaching staff. Fort must’ve stood out for the Broncos, as they picked him up as a college free agent after the 2019 NFL Draft.

He was a star high school quarterback in Gillette, Wyo., and Fort went to the University of Wyoming as a quarterback, but was converted to the tight end position. He takes that quarterback experience and uses it well as a tight end. Fort knows where the quarterback wants him to be and he can sit down in a zone properly. He also squares up to the line of scrimmage and presents the biggest target possible for his quarterback. Fort has shown good hands and concentration during rookie minicamp, OTAs and mandatory minicamp.

Undrafted out of North Carolina in 2017, Bug Howard was known as a big-bodied possession receiver and a favorite target of his college quarterback Mitch Trubisky. Howard first signed as a UDFA with the Colts, but he failed to make the 53-man roster. He then bounced to the Browns and the Panthers during the next two years before finding himself in the now-defunct Alliance of American Football. Playing for the Atlanta Legends of the AAF earned Howard a tryout with the Broncos in their rookie minicamp back in early May.

Howard has a huge wingspan and incredibly large hands. He was miscast as a wide receiver, but he looks more natural playing the tight end position. Howard is a receiving threat only but he makes tough catches with ease and he’s fearless when working the middle of the field. His blocking is a work in progress and Howard has limited experience playing special teams, so finding a spot on the 53-man roster may prove to be difficult. However, he’s enough of an interesting prospect to find a way to keep him on the practice squad. I imagine that Howard will put on a show for fans at training camp later this summer.

***

Summary

The Broncos have a problem at tight end – and it’s a good one. They are incredibly deep at the position for what seems like the first time ever, so there will be tough decisions made at the position after training camp and the preseason when the Broncos are trimming their roster. They have six talented players competing for likely four positions, but hopefully everyone stays healthy and they can stash a couple of prospects like Fort and Howard on the practice squad.

Even if Heuerman is the starting tight end for the Broncos, they’ll use so many two tight end sets that Fant is going to play a huge role. While Heuerman could be used as a blocker, Fant could be used to attack a defense as a receiving threat. That gives the Broncos a nice 1-2 punch at tight end that they’ve been missing since the days of Julius Thomas and Virgil Green.

Regardless of who starts for the Broncos, Fant should be the leading receiver at the position in 2019 – and a favorite target of Flacco. It’s been years in the making, but the tight end position is exciting for the Broncos once again.

***

OTHER BRONCOS 2019 TRAINING CAMP PREVIEWS

Offensive Tackles

Offensive Guards

Centers

Wide Receivers

Blogs

Bud Black...

Will Petersen

Bud Black says Rockies players aware no one gives them a chance

"They don't say much publicly, but internally the guys are not liking what they're hearing," Bud Black said on 104.3 The Fan on Thursday

10 minutes ago

Elehuris Montero high fives Colorado Rockies teammate Brendan Rodgers...

Jake Shapiro and Andrew Mason

Rockies reveal Opening Day roster for 2024 season

The Colorado Rockies are ready for 2024 Opening Day, revealing their roster ahead of Thursday's season opener in Phoenix.

1 hour ago

Joe Sakic Stanley Cup documentary...

Will Petersen

The trailer for the new Joe Sakic documentary looks fascinating

The documentary "Saving Sakic" is about how the Avs found the cash to keep Joe after the Rangers signed him to a huge offer sheet

2 hours ago

How to watch Rockies games...

Jake Shapiro

Rockies announce new TV options in the middle of the night

It's likely you were sleeping when the team announced new options to watch Rockies games on TV just after midnight on Opening Day.

8 hours ago

Denver Nuggets vs Phoenix Suns...

Jake Shapiro

Nuggets lose to the Suns again, but it probably doesn’t mean much

The Denver Nuggets have 15 wins and three losses since the All-Star Break and two of those have come against the Phoenix Suns

12 hours ago

PORTER BROTHERS...

Jake Shapiro

Michael Porter Jr. speaks on Jontay Porter’s gambling investigation

Nuggets star forward Michael Porter Jr.'s brother Jontay Porter is at the center of an NBA investigation into prop bets based on his stats

13 hours ago

Broncos Training Camp Preview 2019: Tight Ends