After being counted out near the start of training camp, one Denver Broncos roster hopeful might be close to swapping places with another. Tight end Lucas Krull landed firmly on the roster bubble after failing to seize a great opportunity last year when the Broncos needed a difference-maker in the pass-catching department at tight end, but he's turned things up lately at training camp.
Krull did lead Denver Broncos tight ends with 19 receptions last season, but that's not a stat anyone is going to remember overly fondly. The upside he showed late in the 2023 season led to some nice offseason hype in 2024, but nothing really materialized. After a slow start to camp, it was seemingly all but over for Krull.
But lately, he's been turning things around in a big way.
Lucas Krull might be stealing Nate Adkins' job on Broncos roster
The top two tight ends on the Denver roster are solidified. Evan Engram and Adam Trautman will both be playing huge roles for this team. There is a third tight end who will be stashed on the roster in a worst-case scenario: 7th-round pick Caleb Lohner.
If the Broncos end up keeping four tight ends, the competition would likely be between Krull and former UDFA Nate Adkins. Adkins is a versatile weapon for the offense as a blocker and receiver, and also plays special teams.
While Krull has been stacking some solid practices together, Adkins has been out with an injury.
TE Nate Adkins, CB Reese Taylor out again.
— MikeKlis9NEWS (@mikeklis9news) August 14, 2025
Lucas Krull has taken a massive leap over the last week or so of camp, IMO. Getting a lot of targets and making the most of them
— Luca Evans (@bylucaevans) August 14, 2025
If there's a chance everyone was just a year early on the Lucas Krull hype train, then it might be worth the Broncos sticking with that investment for another year. Nate Adkins might have too many fans in high places elsewhere around the league to make it through waivers, but if he's hurt, this is the time for Krull to come in and seize his latest opportunity.
The difficult part of this is that both of these guys are extremely different in what they bring to the table. You're not going to see the Broncos likely keeping five tight ends on their 53-man roster, and they will typically just have three active during gamedays. While Krull didn't play as many special teams snaps last year as we saw from Adkins, he did log 133 snaps on special teams and could be more of a factor there than realized.
It's yet another roster battle worth keeping an eye on as the Broncos close in on Week 2 of the Preseason.