Denver Broncos get Jeff Heuerman back, solidifying TE position

The Denver Broncos would love for their talented tight ends to stay healthy. Jeff Heuerman was a priority and they got him back on a 2-year deal.

According to Mike Klis of 9News in Denver, the Denver Broncos are re-signing former third-round pick Jeff Heuerman to a two-year, $9 million contract.

Klis also noted on his Twitter page that he spoke with Heuerman, who said he has ‘unfinished business’ in Denver.

Heuerman, if you’ll recall, was part of the first-ever College Football Playoff championship team at Ohio State, and though he tore his ACL in rookie minicamp, he won the Super Bowl in his first year in the NFL.

For at least a year, Heuerman was the only guy to have won both the College Football Playoff and Super Bowl, so for him to say he has unfinished business is an indicator of how much this guy wants to be part of winning on the field, not just as a cheerleader.

I wrote in November 2018 about why Heuerman would be a strong candidate to be re-signed. At that particular time, he didn’t have broken ribs, but my personal interest in the Broncos re-signing Heuerman remained as did John Elway’s.

Elway has stated a number of times throughout the offseason that he wanted to retain Heuerman and now the Broncos have the deal done.

What does this move mean? Well, we’ve all seen from a distance this offseason how much the tight end position has meant throughout Joe Flacco’s career and now the Broncos have a guy who has been slowly, steadily progressing over the past four years.

Heuerman’s rookie season was lost due to injury, and he’s struggled with a variety of freak or nagging injuries since then. For that reason, the structure of this two-year contract will be fascinating even though it’s not a huge deal.

Other tight ends around the league were getting about $6 million per year on their new contracts, and there are 20 tight ends in the NFL making $4.5 million or more, which will be the average annual value of Heuerman’s contract.

Is Heuerman a top 20 tight end in the NFL? I would say at this current point in time he isn’t, but he certainly could be if he could stay healthy.

The Broncos wanted a tight end who could play in line, block, and catch the ball. As crazy as it sounds, those are rare coming out of college which is why we’ve seen the Broncos prioritize some Big Ten players in recent years. Many of those teams employ pro-style offenses and they ask their tight ends to do what teams like Denver want.

Heuerman certainly has plenty to prove in Denver, as his best statistical season was in 2018 with 31 catches for 281 yards and two touchdowns.

This past season was also the year where he was able to string together a consistently healthy stretch of play, and in that stretch, Heuerman was solid all-around. He’s particularly strong as a run blocker.

The Broncos now have a top three at the tight end position of Heuerman, Jake Butt, and Troy Fumagalli. All of those players finished 2018 on injured reserve.