Denver Broncos officially bring back DL Joel Heath
The Denver Broncos officially brought back free agent defensive lineman Joel Heath, adding some more depth ahead of the 2020 NFL Draft.
At the end of the 2019 season, the Denver Broncos made a curious move to claim Houston Texans defensive lineman Joel Heath off of waivers.
Since the Broncos were not playing at the time Heath was waived by Houston, it became a unique scenario in which Heath would officially join the Broncos the day after the Super Bowl. His time with the Broncos then was short-lived as Heath was slated for restricted free agency.
His status as a restricted free agent was first reported by Predominantly Orange.
Ultimately, the Broncos decided not to tender Heath a restricted free agent offer and instead decided to re-sign him to a one-year contract, per Field Yates of ESPN.
The Broncos have re-signed DL Joel Heath. Heath was not tendered by the Broncos after being claimed as an RFA from Houston. He's now in the fold for Denver with a chance to further develop.
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) March 27, 2020
The mutual agreements made between Heath and the Broncos over the past few months are intriguing, to say the least.
Again, he was claimed as a restricted free agent, so the Broncos and Heath’s camp have obviously been discussing his role with the team for some time now.
This is a clear indicator that the Broncos’ coaching staff has a particular liking for Heath, or at least some sort of inkling that he can develop in their system.
The Houston Texans initially signed Heath as an undrafted free agent out of Michigan State. At 6-foot-6, 293 pounds (at the time), Heath ran a solid 5.02 in the 40-yard dash with 26 bench press reps and a 33-inch vertical jump.
He now checks in at over 300 pounds and after some scouting, it looks like the Texans deployed him as a rotational player anywhere from the 3-technique position on out.
Primarily, Heath was on the field for base package downs, and it’s possible the Broncos feel he has — at the very least — rotational capabilities as a base end for them in the 2020 regular season.
He has started a number of games in the NFL, 16 of a possible 32 to be exact, so he has some experience.
His 2019 season finished in a very weird way. In a dominating Houston Texans win over Tom Brady and the Patriots, Heath got a solid lick on Brady for one of his snaps that game.
The next week, the Texans hosted the Denver Broncos who absolutely destroyed them. That was Heath’s final game with the Texans, and immediately after being let go, he was picked up by the Broncos.
Although he was an undrafted player once upon a time, Heath has very intriguing physical tools for his size.
That spider graph puts Heath in the ‘above average’ category for almost every major athletic measurable. He has the tools and skills, now he has the Denver Broncos’ all-star lineup of coaches working with him, specifically Bill Kollar, who has been a tremendous developer of talent in his time in Denver.
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Heath is joining a similar scheme in Denver that he played in Houston, and obviously the Broncos have liked what they’ve seen from Houston’s player personnel in recent years as they brought in not only Heath, but a few of his former teammates with the Texans like cornerback AJ Bouye, safety/cornerback Kareem Jackson, and they attempted to bring in defensive lineman DJ Reader.