Should the Broncos follow the recent NFL trend at the tight end position?

The Denver Broncos have a fine starting tight end in Noah Fant. In fact, the 2019 first-round pick is one of the best young tight ends in the game today.

Behind Fant, however, the depth chart is a little thin. The team was a trendsetter years ago when they plucked a basketball player (Julius Thomas) to play the tight end position and now there’s a new trend the Broncos could be at the forefront of.

It all starts with the New York Giants. They recently invited veteran wide receiver Kelvin Benjamin in for a tryout during rookie minicamp, but there was a twist. Instead of playing wide receiver, as he has for his entire career, Benjamin worked out as a tight end. Benjamin impressed the Giants so much that he was signed to a contract after the tryout.

Should the Broncos follow this trend of finding talent at tight end by looking at former wide receivers? Let’s take a look at who they have and see who is out there.

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Thin Behind Fant

Albert Okwuegbunam has tremendous upside, but he’s coming off a season-ending knee injury and may not look like himself until the last half of the 2021 season. In four games last year, Okwuegbunam flashed a bit and showed strong chemistry with his college quarterback, Drew Lock. He had 11 catches for 121 yards and one touchdown before getting hurt against the Falcons in Week 9.

Austin Fort was intriguing as an undrafted free agent out of Wyoming a few years ago, but injuries have kept him out of action for the entire time of his pro career. The team has Andrew Beck, but he’s more of a tight end/H-back/fullback.

The Broncos did sign Eric Saubert as a free agent recently, but he’s a journeyman tight end who should not be counted on to do much (although I liked him coming out of Drake years ago). They also added Shaun Beyer as an undrafted free agent this year, but he’s got limited experience from his time at Iowa, where he served as a backup behind Fant for most of his Hawkeyes career.

Before we look at wide receivers who are free agents, I looked at players the Broncos already have at the position who might be able to make the transition to tight end. The only interesting player to me would be Colorado State’s Warren Jackson.

He’s a huge target at 6-foot-6 and has a large wingspan, which helps him play “above the rim” near the end zone. Jackson is going to find it difficult to make the 53-man roster at wide receiver because this team is stacked. However, if the Broncos wanted to try him at tight end, I think it could work.

Defenses are attacking inside linebackers with tight ends who are just super-sized receivers (see Darren Waller, etc) and the Broncos should be looking for similar talent.

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Paton’s Past

Benjamin was a former first-round pick of general manager Dave Gettleman when he was with the Panthers. Gettleman is now the GM of the Giants, so the two know each other well.

There is a connection to a former first-round receiver Broncos GM George Paton is familiar with and that’s Laquon Treadwell. Like Benjamin, the former first-round pick washed out of the league and never played up to his potential – but a position switch might be the ticket for him extending his pro career.

Treadwell compiled 701 yards on 65 receptions during four years with the Vikings. His time with Minnesota culminated with him being a healthy scratch during Minnesota’s Wild Card Game versus New Orleans in January of 2020. He was signed by the Atlanta Falcons last offseason, but failed to make the 53-man roster coming out of training camp. Treadwell was signed by the Falcons later in the year and ended up snaring six passes for 49 yards and two touchdowns.

He’s a big-bodied receiver at 6-foot-2, 220 pounds, so his size is there. He could create mismatches as a tight end that he just never could as a receiver.

Paton is familiar with him since he was on staff with the Vikings when Treadwell was a first-round pick in 2016. If he thinks Treadwell could make that transition, then this signing would make some sense.

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Great Scott!

There is a huge free agent wide receiver that is still available I think a team like the Broncos needs to take a look at and that’s Jaleel Scott. In the 2018 NFL Draft, big receivers like Scott slid in the process and the Baltimore Ravens were able to scoop him up in the fourth round.

Coming out of New Mexico, Scott was known for his size and strength at the catch point. PFF College credited Scott with 19 catches on throws 20-plus yards downfield, most in all of the FBS to account for exactly 50.1 percent of Scott’s senior-year yardage.

A severe hamstring injury as a rookie got his career with the Ravens off to a bad start. He was put on Injured Reserve at the end of the preseason that year and only appeared in one game (Week 17, 2019).

The Ravens ended up letting him go after training camp in 2020. He signed with the New York Jets not long after that and was on their practice squad. He did get activated for a couple of games and snared only one pass for 16 yards in Week 16 against Seattle. He signed a futures contract with the Jets in January 2021, but he was waived by the team less than two weeks ago.

Scott is not a burner, but at tight end his speed and separation ability would look better against larger inside linebackers than smaller cornerbacks in the secondary. He measures in at 6-foot-5, 210 pounds. Perhaps Scott would need to add 10 pounds of muscle, but that would be doable in the Broncos weight program. He’s the type of player who could be a surprise with a position switch and a chance to impress in a different way.

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Summary

The Broncos need to consider this move. The room is too thin behind Fant, and they need to have multiple options in case more players get banged up during OTAs or training camp.

Broncos head coach Vic Fangio recently said Okwuegbunam is not expected to be ready by the start of training camp. If that’s the case, he could begin the season on the PUP list which automatically counts him out the first six weeks. Fort is too injury prone to trust, Saubert has had some injury concerns as well and Beyer is a project you want to develop on the practice squad.

This team has established better depth under Paton’s guidance, but the tight end position is more of a concern than some people think.

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