Broncos get shockingly great injury news on key offensive playmaker

The Denver Broncos are on the doorstep of training camp in 2024, and on top of roster battles and new players coming in, one of the most important things to note will be overall attendance at camp relative to injured players or previously injured players. We already know that a handful of defensive players will open up training camp on the PUP (Physically Unable to Perform) list: Safeties Caden Sterns and Delarrin Turner-Yell as well as linebacker Drew Sanders.

Rookie running back Blake Watson will also be opening training camp on the Non-Football Injury list with an undisclosed injury.

One name that was not placed on any list before training camp is one of the most notable: Tight end Greg Dulcich.

Dulcich is poised to return to the practice field for the first time since late last season, where his appearance on the practice field was only brief. After dealing with hamstring issues for his first two NFL seasons, Dulcich was poised to get back into the mix late last year before suffering a foot injury that required a procedure earlier this offseason. It resulted in the third-year player being held out of OTAs and minicamp altogether, but it doesn't appear as though Dulcich will miss any more time.

To say the Broncos have high hopes for Dulcich feels like it would be a little disingenuous at this point. Even if the Broncos are still high on Dulcich and his potential, they certainly can't bank much on him staying healthy at this point. But if he does...

Dulcich is a potential game-changer for the Broncos. Even after missing the first portion of his rookie year due to injury, Dulcich was immediately impactful when he got onto the field, catching 33 passes for 411 yards and two touchdowns as a rookie. It's difficult not to be excited about the prospect of Dulcich staying healthy, even though he opened training camp last year as the second tight end on the depth chart behind Adam Trautman.

And it's entirely possible that he opens this year's training camp as the third tight end behind both Trautman and Lucas Krull, another player who was highlighted this offseason by head coach Sean Payton as being an impact playmaker in the passing game.

A healthy Dulcich would be a game-changer for the Denver Broncos' offense. The Broncos have just not had good "luck" with players staying healthy at the tight end position.

Dating back more than 10 years ago, you can point to a number of talented players at tight end who just couldn't stay on the field for Denver.

Julius Thomas missed his first two seasons in the league. Second-round pick Jeff Heuerman consistently struggled with injuries. Jake Butt couldn't stay on the field. Albert Okwuegbunam suffered a major knee injury early in his career. Now, Dulcich is struggling to stay healthy. The Broncos desperately need a consistent receiving threat at tight end and that's what Dulcich is great at.

There are a lot of hypotheticals for the Broncos this season which is a major reason why so many people don't like this roster at all. Dulcich is one of those hypotheticals and a wild card for the offense who could end up being one of the team's top breakthrough players. It all starts with stacking days at training camp, and it looks like Dulcich will fortunately be able to do that.