Heading into the 2018 season, the Denver Broncos had very little actual NFL experience at tight end. Brian Parker replaces Jake Butt, who was placed on IR.
The Denver Broncos very sadly are placing tight end Jake Butt on injured reserve after he tore his ACL in practice covering a kickoff during walkthrough.
Butt’s injury is extremely untimely for Denver, as they don’t really have the talent on the roster to sustain such a loss. Butt joins fellow former Big Ten all-conference tight end Troy Fumagalli, another fifth-round pick of the team who was placed on injured reserve prior to the start of the 2018 season.
Because Fumagalli was placed on IR and has never been part of the 53-man roster, he cannot be one of the two players the Broncos take off of IR (Su’a Cravens will be one of the two).
So, because this injury happened in the middle of the week and the Broncos had little to no time to prepare, they are bringing up Brian Parker off the practice squad to fill in as the third tight end.
The Broncos have carried three tight ends on game day every week so far this season, and if that holds true, something pretty awesome will happen for Parker.
The last time he played in an NFL season was in 2015 when he was a member of the Kansas City Chiefs. It was during this season that Parker caught his one and only regular-season pass in the NFL, which happened to be a six-yard reception in Denver against Peyton Manning and the Broncos.
It’s been three years since Parker recorded a statistic in the NFL, and when he did it, he was on the other sideline in this AFC West rivalry game.
The NFL is a crazy business, isn’t it?
Parker was an undrafted free agent originally signed by the San Diego Chargers in 2015 out of Albany. He’s a 6-foot-5, 265-pound player who ran a 4.75-second 40-yard dash at his pro day in 2015, threw up 25 reps of 225 pounds on the bench press, and had a 38.5-inch vertical jump.
Those numbers are incredible for a player of his size, so we know Parker has the athleticism to help the Broncos and he’s going to have to prove his worth on special teams to keep that roster spot.
In the preseason, Parker made his presence felt with three receptions for 43 yards. He was active for the Broncos on special teams as well and has obviously been working his way toward this promotion for a month.
Parker hasn’t played a regular season NFL game since 2015 and hasn’t made a catch since the Broncos were destroyed by the Chiefs three years ago, ironically the game that really started Kansas City’s string of recent dominance over Denver (though the Broncos won the Super Bowl that particular year).
Perhaps Parker will make a big catch or big play on special teams and help the Broncos end their recent losing streak against the Chiefs.