How soon can the Denver Broncos expect an impact from recently acquired tight end A.J. Derby? What does he bring to the table?
The Denver Broncos didn’t make a move at offensive tackle or on the defensive line like many had hoped at the trade deadline, but last week, they made a very underrated move to go after New England Patriots tight end A.J. Derby.
Derby, who was recruited to Iowa as a quarterback/athlete wound up switching positions a number of times before transferring schools twice and ending up as a tight end at Arkansas. He has experience at quarterback, tight end, linebacker, and special teams, and should provide the Broncos with excellent value down the stretch this season.
Derby is an athletic specimen, and always has been. He’s 6-5, 255 pounds, and runs the 40-yard dash under 4.7 seconds. It’s no question he was a player the Patriots targeted late in the 2015 draft despite having just one season of experience at his new position.
There’s a ton of value to his overall game, and he had a big preseason for New England, earning his way onto a roster that includes two of the best tight ends in the NFL in Rob Gronkowski and Martellus Bennett.
With snaps virtually impossible to come by for Derby thanks to Gronk and Bennett along with all of the three-wide sets the Patriots utilize, it’s likely the Broncos instigated calls about Derby, not the Patriots trying to unload him.
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Denver has had injury issues at tight end this season, and a general lack of production. This past week, we finally saw some forced involvement when Virgil Green got into the mix in the passing game, but the Broncos need more of it.
Enter A.J. Derby, who spent the week getting a crash course on the offensive system and was inactive for the Broncos’ win against San Diego.
“He was ready physically,” head coach Gary Kubiak said on Monday. “I don’t think mentally he could have gone out and ran our game plan. We just got him on Tuesday and Brian spent all night with him on Tuesday. We made up some ground, but my expectations are to get him prepared to play this week. I think we can do that.”
The athleticism and ability to create mismatch in the passing game are there with Derby. He’s still learning the position, but all of a sudden, if he provides a spark offensively for the Broncos, they could suddenly be deep at a position that looked fairly weak just over a week ago.
Hopefully, he gets going sooner than later.