The last five months have, undoubtedly, been a major whirlwind of emotions for Denver Broncos rookie tight end Jeff Heuerman.
After competing in and winning the first College Football Playoff with the Ohio State Buckeyes, Heuerman became the third tight end selected in the 2015 NFL Draft by the Broncos and was, at that point, undoubtedly on cloud nine.
Two days into rookie minicamp, Heuerman tore his ACL and will likely miss the entire 2015 season.
That reality won’t stop the Broncos from having Heuerman heavily involved this year. In fact, head coach Gary Kubiak said something on Tuesday that was pretty alarming of the rookie’s role for the 2015 season.
| “Very tough. I wish it was me. It is such an unfortunate situation to be just running down the field and that to happen. We’re going to miss him. He was going to be a big part of what we’re doing. He’s still going to be a big part of what we’re doing. He’s a great kid. He’s got his priorities in line. He’s going to be in the meetings, part of the team and going to help us coach the tight ends. He’ll have a great career here. Unfortunate situation, but you have to get stronger through adversity. I’m sure we’ll have more. That’s part of this game and we’ll work through it.” |
It’s certainly a tough situation for the Broncos to lose a player that was going to be such a big part of the offense last season, but it’s got to be reassuring for Heuerman to know just how big of a part of this team’s future he is going to be. The Broncos identified him as a top three tight end in this draft (at worst) and made him a priority with their third round selection.
With his size, blocking ability, and athletic ability, there’s no doubt he’ll eventually be a big time asset for this team.
Kubiak also talked about whether or not Heuerman’s injury will cause him to re-evaluate how he approaches rookie camps in the future.
| “Obviously you’ve got your guys that are in here that you’ve signed. You’ve also got your group of guys that you’re trying to tryout and take a look at. It is a fine line and how much have they been doing those types of things? We were having a great weekend. Actually, that afternoon we weren’t doing much at all. It’s just things happen in this game. You just hope as a coach everybody [comes out healthy], but you try to learn from them. You’ve got to be there to support those people that things happen to. We’ll support Jeff and this football team will move forward. We’ll have to have other guys step up.” |
We’ll look forward to seeing Heuerman on the field this season, even if it’s just in a coaching capacity. The Broncos claimed TE Marcel Jensen off of waivers to take Heuerman’s place on the roster.