Denver Broncos: Which players should come off IR when healthy?

Jake Butt, TE

After being selected in the fifth round of the 2017 NFL Draft, Jake Butt’s appearances for the Broncos have been few and far between.

He made his regular season debut at the beginning of the 2018 season, but was placed on IR after three games. He missed his entire rookie season recovering from a torn ACL, and he’s been on IR now in 2019 after suffering a setback in preseason play.

At this point, it’s hard to say what the Broncos even have in Butt. You hate to say it, but you’re almost just nervous he’s going to get hurt any time he’s on the field.

Right now, the Broncos’ tight end group is fully healthy. The pecking order is currently Noah Fant, Jeff Heuerman, Andrew Beck, and Troy Fumagalli in terms of snap counts. If the Broncos feel like Butt is a better option than one of those guys, they could seriously consider bringing him back.

The tough part of this whole situation is, if Butt doesn’t play this season, it will make very little actual football played for three straight seasons. How long do the Broncos wait on this one?

Even if he is healthy enough to bring back, is there a true need for it? Injuries do happen, so that could end up factoring into things here, but it feels like Butt is somewhat of a longshot to get called back to the active roster this year unless the need clearly presents itself.

Even as a third tight end behind Fant and Heuerman, it would seem the need for Butt on the roster as currently constructed is just not there.

At the same time, he is a talented, smart player who brings strong hands to the table and maybe the Broncos could view him as a big slot weapon.

Selfishly, I think all of Broncos Country would love to see him play. Realistically, I’m not sure if it will be in 2019.