Tight End
Battle: To keep four TE’s or not keep four TE’s
Someone has to force the Broncos to keep four tight ends.
This shouldn’t be difficult to do, considering the Broncos will probably use a lot of 12 personnel (one back, two tight ends) with Rich Scangarello’s West Coast offense.
With that being the case, I think it’s safe to assume four guys will go to the final 53 roster at this position, and all four guys are recent Broncos draft picks.
Jeff Heuerman is the elder of the group as a 2015 third-round pick. He was re-signed this offseason after a strong fourth year in Denver where he battled through injuries to the best season of his career.
Jake Butt is healthy coming back from yet another unfortunate ACL injury. He was on pace to be the team’s leading receiver at TE last year before he got hurt.
Troy Fumagalli missed all of camp and preseason last year with a sports hernia, but he is back and had a great OTAs.
Noah Fant is the team’s first-round pick and unquestionably will make the roster.
The Broncos have some other guys vying for spots here, however. Bug Howard was signed after an impressive rookie camp, and the team really likes UDFA Austin Fort out of Wyoming. He’s a dynamic athlete with a broad catch radius who also made a strong impression throughout OTAs.