Denver Broncos HC Vic Fangio hopes we see the ‘real’ Jake Butt in 2020.
There has been no shortage of excitement about the Denver Broncos’ selection of Jake Butt since he was the top pick of the fifth-round in the 2017 NFL Draft.
An All-American at Michigan, everyone assumed that Butt was underdrafted as a fifth-round pick, even with his knee injury just under four months before the Broncos picked him.
Butt caught 138 passes in 43 games as a member of the Michigan Wolverines, earning some first-round NFL Draft hype along the way for his abilities as an in-line blocking tight end and receiver. Even though Butt has always been a solid blocker, it was his abilities as a receiver that had the NFL scouting world really interested.
Coming off of a knee injury suffered against Florida State during the 2016-17 bowl season, everyone just assumed Butt would take the required 8-12 months to recover, get back out on the field immediately thereafter, and become a TE1 for the Denver Broncos.
Those weren’t unreasonable expectations for Butt, even though he was a fifth-round pick.
The Broncos did attempt to get Butt on the field in his rookie 2017 season, but ultimately shut him down for the year and let him come back for 2018 camp, where he was one of the shining stars in practices.
Butt entered the 2018 regular season healthy and was the Broncos’ TE1…for a few games, anyway.
Unfortunately, the second-year tight end suffered yet another setback with a knee injury, ending his 2018 season after just three games with eight receptions, a couple of which were clutch catches in wins against the Seattle Seahawks and Oakland Raiders to open the season.
Butt once again pushed through the recovery process, attempting to get himself ready for the 2019 season. The complications from his latest knee injury persisted, and although he tried coming back for a preseason contest against the Los Angeles Rams, Butt suffered yet another knee injury of the season-ending variety.
Three seasons into his Denver Broncos career and Jake Butt has played just three regular-season games and had gone on season-ending IR the same number of times.
Entering the 2020 offseason, it’s certainly fair that most in Broncos Country would be skeptical of what Butt can bring to the table for this coming season, especially considering the depth the team currently has at tight end.
The Broncos have 2019 first-round pick Noah Fant in addition to veteran Nick Vannett, a free agent signing in 2020, and 2020 fourth-round pick Albert Okwuegbunam. Those three players have pretty set-in-stone roster spots, and the Broncos have other players vying for roster spots with Butt like Troy Fumagalli and Andrew Beck, players who each scored touchdowns in their first regular-season action with the Broncos in 2019.
With the way things have been in 2020, Butt may have actually benefitted more than he would have in an otherwise ‘normal’ offseason. Because the Broncos didn’t take the field until July, Butt was afforded all the time he needed and then some to recover from his latest injury, and he got back to work earlier than other tight ends on the roster because injured players are allowed to get on-field work when the quarterbacks and rookies report.
So, not only did Butt not have to struggle to get himself on the field for May or June OTAs, but he was able to get out there fully healthy before most of the rest of his peers at the tight end position to get time-on-task with Pat Shurmur’s offense and catching passes from Drew Lock.
Lock has taken note of Butt’s progress toward recovery and mentioned that there’s no one in the Broncos’ locker room who isn’t rooting for Butt.
"“There’s nobody in our locker room that doesn’t want to see Jake Butt succeed. One of the best teammates that we have in this locker room. For him to push and grind through all the injuries he’s had. For him to come out—he reported early with us. Right from the get-go I could tell. He’s not 100 percent back to normal. Obviously, you can never get back to normal after a knee [injury], but he’s as close as you can possibly get after having those surgeries. The guy is playing some really good ball. He’s super smart and little more athletic than people give him credit for.Drew Lock (quotes via Broncos PR)"
If there’s a track that leads to Butt making the final roster for the Broncos in 2020, the team’s got to find it.
There are always going to be training camp fluff pieces for players who do well, and Butt is certainly a feel-good type of story, but this is more than a fluff piece or feel-good story.
The Broncos have invested three years into Butt’s development and health. The fact that he was taken one selection ahead of George Kittle in the 2017 NFL Draft certainly leaves a bit of a bad taste in everyone’s mouth with the benefit of hindsight, but if you could go back in time, you would see that no one questioned the Broncos taking Butt over Kittle at the time, because Kittle wasn’t really Kittle yet.
Now, he’s making $15 million per season while Butt is simply trying to make it one day at a time and get to the regular season healthy for just the second time in his pro career.
If Butt wasn’t any good, none of this would matter. The fact is, he was a tremendous prospect and he’s shown glimpses — if even just small glimpses in the preseason and regular-season action — that he can be an effective tight end in the NFL especially as a receiver.
Running around with no knee brace and a ton of confidence, things might finally be coming together for Butt in his fourth year with the Broncos. Head coach Vic Fangio hopes we all get to see the ‘real’ Jake Butt in 2020.
"“I think Jake is way ahead of where he was last year at this time. To quote him, he feels the best he’s felt in a long, long time. I think he’s looked out there not just today but all the days he’s been out there. He had a great offseason. Hopefully we’ll see the real Jake Butt here this season.”Vic Fangio"
The Broncos certainly haven’t had to sacrifice much by keeping Butt around through these past three seasons. His rookie contract has paid him just under $1.7 million to this point and having been on IR or the 90-man roster, it’s not like the Broncos have compromised the depth of their team to keep him.
With that said, this season will be a major turning point for Butt in his professional career. He’s got virtually unprecedented support from the Broncos organization when many other players with similar injury issues weren’t kept around as long.
It would be fantastic to see Butt out there come time for the regular season, getting some reps in two-tight end sets or splitting out as a big slot for the Broncos when the team opens their season on Monday Night Football against the Tennessee Titans.
If his strong start to camp continues, that dream could become a reality.