What will the Denver Broncos do with Jake Butt?

Denver Broncos tight end Jake Butt will undergo a minor procedure on his injured knee. What are the team’s options with him at his point?

Denver Broncos tight end Jake Butt just cannot catch a break.

Butt has had some extremely bad luck in terms of injuries while playing football, and now he has hit another speed bump.

James Palmer of NFL Network reports that Butt will undergo a minor procedure on his knee and will miss some time.

Obviously, no time is a great time for knee surgery—especially if you have had several of them. Butt will miss at least Thursday’s game against the Arizona Cardinals.

This brings up the question about what the team will end up doing with the tight end. They cannot place him on the PUP list, because he has practiced already, so that is out of the question.

It all depends on the timetable of his recovery. Obviously, they will not want to rush him back. Maybe they will keep him on the active roster and wait the whole thing out.

Depending on how he does in practice upon his return, they would decide whether or not to continue working him back slowly (again) or to place him on injured reserve (again).

The Broncos have Noah Fant, Troy Fumagalli, Jeff Heuerman, and Moral Stephens at the tight end position. They also brought in Orson Charles, who is listed as a tight end, but also at fullback.

Denver could also choose to cut ties with Butt with an injury settlement. However, that would not save the team very much money. Because Butt is injured, the team cannot release him outright.

One other possibility is that the team could end up putting him on the practice squad, as Sayre Bedinger suggests.

There has not been word of Butt’s recovery timeline as of yet, but whatever decision the Broncos make will be based partially by that.

Whatever the Broncos do, I hope that Butt’s knee can eventually hold up so that he can become a reliable target for the Denver Broncos in the future.