Broncos rookie TE Jake Butt to start season on PUP list

Denver Broncos rookie tight end Jake Butt said he will start the season on the physically unable to perform list during a charity event Wednesday at Denver Health Medical Center.

First reported by Denver 7’s Lionel Bienvenu and relayed on-air during “Stokley & Zach” by Denver 7 Broncos Insider Troy Renck, Butt said he and Broncos made the decision to “start off on the PUP” to take things slow as he recovers from a torn ACL suffered in December.

Butt tore the ligament in his right knee during his final game at Michigan during the Orange Bowl on Dec. 31. He underwent successful surgery on the knee, his second such procedure, in early January.

Thank you all for the prayers and well wishes. Surgery went very well and it will be a smooth recovery !

— jbooty (@JakeButtTE) January 11, 2017

Butt said Wednesday that he and the team want to make sure he’s “100 percent healthy” before he gets back on the field so he can fully contribute.

“This is a lifelong dream of mine. I want to get out there as soon as I can as much as I can. But I understand that there’s a bigger picture here, and it’s not just going to be my decision,” Butt said.

“I trust this coaching staff. I trust this training staff. I believe in this team. So, whatever my role is this year, I’m going to be happy for it, and I’m going to go into it with an attacking mindset.”

Renck called the move the “best possible scenario” for Butt, pointing to defensive lineman Adam Gotsis’ down rookie campaign after coming back from ACL injury last offseason.

“(Butt) is a guy who understands recovery from knee surgery. But he hasn’t played in the NFL. That would be my caution,” Renck said of the tight end, who suffered a torn ACL on the same knee his freshman season for the Wolverines.

“He knows how to get back and get ready to play in college. I watched this with Gotsis last year. He was healthy. He was not ready. He was not productive. He had no strength. He was just underwhelming because he didn’t have the NFL strength, that grown man strength.”

Butt’s stock plummeted after the knee injury in December, dropping him from a projected first- or second-round pick to the first pick in the fifth round of this year’s NFL Draft.

“If he wasn’t hurt, he would’ve been a top two-round guy,” head coach Vance Joseph said at the time.

During his first Broncos press conference, Butt said the “weight of the world” was lifted off his shoulders.

“I was just waiting and waiting for that phone to ring. Anytime my phone vibrated, I’m just waiting to see where I’m going to end up, and I got on the phone with a couple of people,” Butt said in early May.

“I talked with John Elway, and it was like a dream come true.”

The Broncos GM also said the club felt fortunate Butt was still around at the top of the fifth round.

“The tight end position we thought was probably a position of need for us, and plus with Jake’s injury, that pushed him down,” Elway said in early May. “We were very fortunate to get him that far in the fifth round, so we’re excited about that to be able to get him.”

Follow digital content producer Johnny Hart on Twitter: @johnnyhart7.