Jake Butt catches pass from Case Keenum in OTA day one highlights

Denver Broncos second-year tight end Jake But catches a pass from new quarterback Case Keenum in day one OTA highlight video…

The Denver Broncos were back on the field Tuesday for day one of OTAs, and the video highlights provided us a glimpse of a connection we hope to see a lot in the 2018 season.

Jake Butt, a second-year tight end out of Michigan, has perhaps the highest expectations a former fifth-round pick coming off of a year spent recovering from ACL surgery could possibly have.

Butt’s All-American play in college earned him a very high grade from draft analysts coming into the 2017 NFL Draft, but because of his need for a redshirt, teams shied away from picking him that early.

Butt was selected by the Broncos with the top pick in the fifth round, and many fans (including me) were ecstatic about it.

Some even bought color rush Jake Butt jerseys…

If he’s able to stay healthy, there’s reason to be confident that Butt will be a major weapon for the Denver Broncos’ offense in 2018. We haven’t gotten many looks of him running full speed in practice, but this highlight video from the Broncos is probably as close to that as possible:

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About nine seconds into the video, Case Keenum takes a snap and fires the ball to his young tight end, and Butt extends his arms to make the catch before sprinting upfield.

Now, this throw and catch are against air, and the players aren’t wearing pads either. That doesn’t matter. All Broncos fans need to see is a healthy Jake Butt running around on the field doing what he does best.

Keenum said he was aware Butt missed last season, but couldn’t identify any lingering effects:

"“I honestly didn’t know. I knew he was injured, but I had no idea that it was even a knee issue. You can’t even tell. He’s running around making cuts and doing a great job.”Case Keenum (quotes via Broncos PR)"

With the injury to Paul Worrilow with the Philadelphia Eagles putting him out for the 2018 season, the Broncos should exercise all the caution they need with players like Butt.

Vance Joseph said he wasn’t surprised to see Butt ‘flying around the field’ but admitted all he really wants is to just see Butt play some more football.

All of us do, and this small glimpse was a nice preview of what is hopefully yet to come.