The Denver Broncos went into the offseason with obvious offensive needs at all three playmaking positions. The team re-signed J.K. Dobbins, drafted Jonah Coleman, and traded for Jaylen Waddle to shore up the running back and wide receiver rooms.
The team also invested two day three 2026 NFL Draft picks on a pair of tight ends in Justin Joly, coming in Roudn 5, and Dallen Bentley, coming in Round 7. The tight end room was arguably the worst-performing playmaking unit on offense in 2025, so it's nice that the Broncos double-dipped here.
But this doesn't mean things will work out. However, with that being said, the Broncos do appear to have a 'good' problem brewing at this position, as one of these tight ends in particular could come out of nowhere at camp and force a brutally tough, but also desired decision.
Dallen Bentley has the ingredients to make things interesting for the Denver Broncos at tight end
While much of the offseason chatter surrounding the position is focused on Joly, the fifth-round rookie who just turned 22 years old, Bentley is someone who does appear to be more of a finished product. Yes, he's 25 years old, and actually turns 26 in December, but he brings 40 collegiate games of experience in the NFL and does have receiving chops and blocking chops.
He's got good side as 6-4 and 253 pounds, and while he was a seventh-round pick for a reason, he has traits to be a two-phase tight end, meaning he could potentially contribute notably as a blocker and as a legitimate receiver.
And in Lance Zierlein's NFL.com draft profile on Bentley, he had him graded out as a fifth-round pick, so the Broncos, essentially, got him much later than he was projected to go. Even on that page itself, the video that plays when Bentley got selected features Daniel Jeremiah talking about how strong of a blocker he is.
Seeing as Bentley may already feature desirable qualities in both phases, it'd be hard to envision him not making the roster this year, right? If that is the case, the Broncos would surely have to make a difficult decision for all the right reasons, as it's likely that none of Evan Engram, Adam Trautman, or Joly are going anywhere and will be on the roster.
But if Bentley does more than the rest to earn that final spot, the Broncos would risk losing guys like Caleb Lohner, who Sean Payton praised earlier this offseason, Nate Adkins, who is a solid blocker, and Lucas Krull, who is, if nothing else, an athletic player.
The Broncos likely won't keep five tight ends on the roster, especially since fullback Adam Prentice is in the mix, so the team won't have to have a de-facto TE/FB hybrid on the roster. We have uttered the phrase 'good problem' recently here before, and the tight end room could fall into that when camp rolls around.
Denver brought in two young tight ends, and ideally, both crack the active roster and contribute, but that being the case would come at the expense of another tight end that could be on the wrong end of a tough decision.
Add us as a preferred source on Google