Broncos tight end has made eye-popping changes in order to stay healthy
Third-year Denver Broncos tight end Greg Dulcich has made insane changes this offseason in order to get and stay healthy. Reading into what Dulcich has changed this offseason is quite overwhelming, Parker Gabriel of The Denver Post had some of this information in an article on Monday morning. Just check out all that has gone into the third-year TE trying to get healthy:
"“It was definitely a long road,” Dulcich said. “I had to figure out exactly what we needed to do with the foot and we were finally able to figure it out. Like I said, (the Broncos staff) put together an awesome program there for me to not only get me stronger than I was but to build volume at that strength and to prepare me for camp.”
- Parker Gabriel
Dulcich has been working on not only strengthening his hamstring but also trying to re-wire the way he runs — at least to an extent. He and the Broncos are focused on eccentric loading of the hamstring muscle — essentially, movements that put tension on the muscle while it’s lengthening rather than shortening. Think extension rather than curls.
“Whenever you’re dealing with injuries, you’re trying to restore some symmetry to strength and gait,” Dr. Kenton Fibel, a primary care sports medicine specialist at Cedars-Sinai Kerlan-Jobe Institute in Los Angeles and the Anaheim Ducks’ medical director, told The Post. “Not always easy to do, but that makes it so hopefully you’re not going to overload some muscle groups more than others, whether it’s quadriceps versus posterior chain and hamstring and then obviously left and right leg. So trying to restore strength in any kind of strength and gait training.”"
Wow. This is... something. Basically, the way I read this, Greg Dulcich has entirely changed the way he runs and the way he strides out. He's dealt with hamstring injuries for some time, so it's no surprise that something as major as this was needed to at least try and get him to stay on the field. The young tight end from UCLA has played just 12 games in two seasons across his NFL career.
Across a full 17-game season, Greg Dulcich has averaged 51 receptions, 618 yards, and three touchdowns. These averages come from him catching 36 passes for 436 yards and two touchdowns through 12 games. Statistically speaking, he'd give quite the boost to the offense if he could put a full 17 games together.
He's not some random, average player the Broncos are getting back; Dulcich has true TE1 potential, and if he can put together a full season and turn into a viable target in the passing game, the Broncos will be a dangerous football team in 2024.