Albert Okwuegbunam is looking forward to having a large role

It was a big day for the Denver Broncos, starting their 2022 Training Camp on Wednesday. And that meant it was a big day for Brandon Stokley and Zach Bye, who were joined by a few players live from the UCHealth Training Center.

One of those players was Albert Okwuegbunam. And if you don’t know the name or how to say it, you should learn it because he’s penciled in to be the starting tight end. While he did say he wants people to learn his name and how to say it, he’s used to it being mispronounced.

Last year Okwuegbunam broke out, catching 33 passes for 330 yards and two touchdowns. But things will be different in his third season now that the Broncos have a franchise quarterback in Russell Wilson.

“This is a huge step forward as far as just focusing on little things and preparing at a whole new level,” he said. ” What I thought was preparing before given what doing, I have taken that even further. Focusing on little things whether that’s off the field stuff, recovery, getting here early, putting the extra work in, and knowing the offense inside out.”

Okwuegbunam is learning a new offense designed around Wilson by new head coach Nathaniel Hackett. Okwuegbunam said Hackett is very different with his energy and relationships with the players.

“It was more challenging to learn in the offseason, just because it’s very detailed,” Okwuegbunam said. “There’s a lot of small, intricate details. Especially being a tight end, we’re so involved in the protection run game, pass game, there’s a lot to learn. But I love that because that enables things to be so diverse and for me to have a large role.”

The Broncos tight end position as a whole is one of the team’s biggest question marks. Between Okwuegbunam, rookie Greg Dulcich, Eric Tomlinson and Eric Saubert the four have combined to start just 26 NFL games in the last three years. The three who have played in the NFL have only been targeted a combined 71 times in the past three seasons, with Okwuegbunam accounting for 55 of those.

“The number one goal is to win the Superbowl, be a winning team and get to the playoffs,” Okwuegbunam said. “Regarding individual goals, I focus on more things like a production rate, what you do with your targets, efficiency. You can say I want to have 100 catches, but what if you only have 50 targets. I don’t have to worry about stuff I can’t control. Just how efficient I am with my targets.”

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