Should the Broncos trade away one of their tight ends?

Broncos general manager John Elway dropped something. Don’t worry, it’s just tight end talent falling out of his pockets.

One thing is clear after three weeks of OTAs and a handful of days in mandatory minicamp – the Broncos tight end position is packed with talent.

Honestly, I went into this offseason thinking the need for tight end talent on this roster was huge. This was before the draft, but it still seemed like Denver needed to address the position despite spending multiple picks on tight ends across the last few drafts.

First, they addressed the need through free agency. Then, the added to their pool via the draft and college free agents. Add in the players returning from injury and you have a good problem for the Broncos; they all can’t make the roster.

With so much talent at the position, should the Broncos consider trading away one of their tight ends? Let’s take a look at who should stay and who could go.

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Bring Him Back

The Broncos had several decisions to make during offseason in regards to their own free agents. After letting him test free agency for a few days, the Broncos decided to re-sign Jeff Heuerman to a two-year, $9 million deal.

A third-round pick in the 2015 NFL Draft, Heuerman has missed 27 of 64 games in his pro career and has never really flashed outside of a game here or there. He’s the veteran of the room and the team seems comfortable with him in the mix.

The chances Heuerman would be traded away are slim. The Broncos have a young group of tight ends, and Heuerman is a sound blocker and sound in his assignments.

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Can You Trust Him?

Jake Butt has all the talent in the world, and is your traditional “Y” tight end who can excel as a blocker or receiver. A fifth-round pick in the 2017 NFL Draft, Butt came out of Michigan with a knee injury. He missed all of his rookie season and then played in 2018, but only made it through three games.

Butt is working his way back from the third knee injury of his football career. He looks good during his recovery, but can still be seen wearing a brace. Butt could be the top tight end at the position if he was ever to stay healthy as he can excel as a receiver or blocker. He’s the total package – it’s just the package has been severely damaged.

It would be difficult to trade away Butt due to these injury concerns. Perhaps some team would add him based on the talent he’s shown at Michigan and briefly in the NFL, but it would likely be a conditional pick based on how much he can play.

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The Great Unknown

Denver has been trying to address their tight end position for some time now. In the 2018 NFL Draft, the Broncos selected Troy Fumagalli out of Wisconsin in the fifth round.

In college, Fumagalli was known to have “vacuum hands” as a receiving threat and his blocking ability was more or less secondary to the threat he posed as a receiver. As a rookie in 2018, Fumagalli missed the entire season due to a sports hernia surgery and has been recovering ever since.

I’ve watched him closely in OTAs and mandatory minicamp and Fumagalli is impressing any chance he gets as a receiver. In fact, in about a month of practices, I have yet to see him drop a pass.

Like Butt, Fumagalli would be difficult to trade away because of the injury concerns. Unlike Butt, nobody has seen much from Fumagalli in the NFL. He’s a great unknown for this team who could at least make the practice squad this year due to his skill set.

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Rookie Hype

The team added an incredible talent in the first round of the 2019 NFL Draft when they picked up Noah Fant. The Iowa prospect was arguably the best receiving tight end in this draft class with a great size/speed combination.

Fant was a mismatch every time he stepped onto the field in college and he can bring that ability to the pro level. He did suffer from some drops in college and his play was sometimes inconsistent, so we’re not talking about a finished product from day one in the NFL; Fant has some work to do.

So far in OTAs and minicamp, I’ve been impressed with Fant. His speed is on display and I dare any team to put a linebacker on him as he is toasting any player at the position tasked with covering him in practice.

Putting a corner or safety on him doesn’t work, either. Fant is doing a better job of using his body to shield the ball away from smaller defenders. That was an inconsistent skill for him in college that was at least under-utilized by the Hawkeyes.

There is no way Fant will be traded, so let’s move on.

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Better Than Expected

Talent can come from anywhere, and the Broncos are certainly one of the best teams in the league when it comes to finding quality late-round or undrafted prospects. When offseason workouts began, I didn’t know what to expect from undrafted rookie Austin Fort or third-year pro Bug Howard. These two are exceeding expectations and putting on a show in OTAs and minicamp.

Fort, undrafted out of Wyoming, was at the team’s local pro day earlier this year. I made note of him, but didn’t see too much that stood out. He’s taken that opportunity and turned it into a chance to make at least the practice squad this year. Fort is a smooth athlete and shows good hands and concentration as a receiver.

Howard was initially a Colts undrafted free agent in 2017. He’s bounced around a bit but the Broncos signed him to compete at the tight end position. He’s a big-bodied receiver who can really distance himself from defenders with long and powerful strides after the catch. The emergence of these two players has created a bit of a good problem for the Broncos.

Maybe one could make the practice squad and the other could be traded away, although the Broncos may not get much in return as both are huge unknowns.

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The Need for Speed

There are only a small handful of teams that have the tight end depth the Broncos do. Most teams have a decent starter, but they lack serious depth at the position. However, there are some teams who are looking for a starting tight end right now.

One of those teams has to be the Patriots.

New England just released Austin Seferian-Jenkins this week, and it was announced last week that veteran Ben Watson received a four-game suspension from the league for a PED violation. That catapults former Broncos tight end Matt LaCosse to the top of their depth chart.

LaCosse was set to be a restricted free agent for the Broncos, but they chose not to tender him and let him hit the open market. Only one team showed interest in LaCosse – the Patriots – and they ended up signing him to a two-year deal worth $2.8 million.

The Broncos and the Patriots have a history of swapping tight ends (remember A.J. Derby), so perhaps a team like New England would come calling for one of the talented tight ends on the Broncos roster.

“What’s possible and what’s likely?” are questions I always like to ask in these situations. Anything is possible, but at this time it’s unlikely the Broncos move one of their tight ends before the start of the regular season – even if that means losing one of them if they’re exposed to waivers and available on the practice squad.

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