Broncos should give Albert Okwuegbunam some run in final two weeks

The Denver Broncos have two games left to play in the 2022 season and though most fans are ready and have been ready for the season to be over, they need to make something out of the final two weeks.

Though this season is lost and will go down as possibly the worst in team history, there are still some things to play for. There are also reasons why third-year tight end Albert Okwuegbunam needs to see the field.

With Nathaniel Hackett ousted and Jerry Rosburg now leading the team as the interim head coach, a new approach is needed.

On the season, Okwuegbunam, who many pegged to have a breakout year, has played in just six games. He has been a healthy scratch for the other nine games and as a result, has caught just seven passes on the year.

That is less than ideal.

But now, the Broncos really have no reason not to put him out there, particularly after the team placed rookie tight end Greg Dulcich on injured reserve, ending his season, on Friday.

Dulcich has been one of the team’s few bright spots this season, but over the next two weeks, the Broncos need to find a way to replace him on the field. The team knows what it has in Andrew Beck, Eric Saubert and Eric Tomlinson. They are limited athletes who are better as blockers.

None of them should fit into the team’s future plans as anything more than a No.3 tight end, at best. But Okwuegbunam still has the youth and athletic ability to be a No.2 option behind Dulcich.

The Broncos should roll him out in the next two games and put him out on the field for a good number of snaps in each game. It’s not going to hurt anything to have him out there and if all the team was going to do was to make him a gameday inactive every week, he should have been moved at the trade deadline.

The team needs to see if there can be a good connection made between the young tight end and Russell Wilson over the next two weeks that can be taken into the future.