Denver Broncos: 5 tight ends vying for one roster spot

Jake Butt

Everyone’s been rooting for Jake Butt now for over three years, but entering his contract year with the Broncos, something’s gotta give.

Butt was an All-American tight end at Michigan, in line to become a top 64 draft pick in 2017, and then he tore his ACL in Michigan’s 2016-17 bowl game against Florida State.

Since coming to the Broncos, he has struggled to stay healthy, tearing his ACL again in 2018 after coming back for a couple of games to open the season.

In 2019, he saw a brief bit of preseason action and felt he had turned a corner before another knee procedure put him out for all of 2019.

He has now missed the majority of the first three years of his rookie contract with the Broncos, and there’s no certainty he will be able to stay healthy for any sort of extended period of time.

In order to make the Broncos’ final roster, Butt is going to have to clear the offseason program, training camp, and preseason with an absolutely clean bill of health.

There are other players who could be valuable to the Broncos, so keeping Butt around has to be the right call, not just the sentimental one.

It would be tremendous if he could re-establish himself, and what a story that would be. Butt has tremendous ability as a receiver and there’s no question the Broncos love him. Why else would he still be on the roster at this point?

Both the Broncos and Butt have to understand that this is a make-or-break offseason for the former fifth-round pick, and there’s no question if he could stay healthy it would give the Broncos an unforeseen boost in the passing game.