Denver Post Broncos writer Parker Gabriel posts his Broncos Mailbag weekly during the season. Submit questions to Parker here.
Why don’t the Broncos use tight end Andrew Beck more often? He had two catches in game one and that’s it.
— Mark, West Jordan, Utah
The fact that Russell Wilson’s first three regular-season targets in Denver went to Andrew Beck makes for a good trivia question, especially since he’s seen exactly zero of the ensuing 128.
You’re right, Mark, that Beck hasn’t been used much — just about 27% of offensive snaps by our numbers. Since that one-handed catch against Seattle, Beck has returned to doing mostly dirty work like lead blocking as a fullback and playing extensively on special teams.
Beck’s a tough player and maybe as the offense continues to develop — well, that’s Denver’s hope anyway — he’ll see more targets in the passing game. Mostly, though, he’s going to be counted on for stuff that doesn’t show up in the stat book or the highlight reel, despite his flashy start to the season.
What has happened to the Broncos’ tight ends? Albert Okwuegbunam has disappeared, Eric Saubert gets a target or two a game, Eric Tomlinson may as well not even exist. With the Broncos struggling to score points and Russell Wilson really needing some easy completions that a tight end often provides, what is going on? They can’t all be awful, can they?
— Evan Lukassen, Gunnison
Almost rambled into a longer answer about Denver’s tight end rotation above, but we’ve got TE questions for days in the mailbag.
The short answer is this: Maybe Nathaniel Hackett and company are satisfied with the way the tight ends are playing, but it doesn’t exactly feel like they’ve settled into a good groove rotation-wise yet. That’s likely because they don’t have a guy who can do absolutely everything at a high level — and, to be fair, those guys are rare.
Quarterback Russell Wilson clearly trusts Saubert in the passing game, but he’s very rarely the No. 1 option in a concept. Denver’s not scheming him up the way San Francisco does for George Kittle, Kansas City for Travis Kelce, etc.
Tomlinson is primarily a blocking tight end and he’s a physical player. You’re just not going to see him much unless you’re watching for it.
Okwuegbunam isn’t trusted in the run game and one-dimensional tight ends end up not playing very much. Just the nature of the position. He played only one snap against Las Vegas and wasn’t in the game for a single run play against San Francisco. At one point he was tasked with getting his hands on Nick Bosa and… it didn’t go well.
Where’s Greg Dulcich? We drafted him to be our tight end of the future. We clearly aren’t using our other TEs, so when’s he going to get a chance?
— Mark, Arvada
More tight-end questions! Dulcich suffered a hamstring injury in June during the Broncos’ offseason program. He ramped back up some early in training camp, but then saw his production drop off. Denver’s been loathe to call it a “setback,” but midway through training camp he was doing less than he was at the start.
Dulcich, a third-round pick out of UCLA, is eligible to return to practice this week after spending the first four games on short-term injured reserve. Once he starts practicing, he’s got three more weeks before the team has to either activate him or put him back on injured reserve for the rest of the year.
At this point — not only because it’s been a very slow return from the injury, but also because it’s notoriously difficult for rookie tight ends to immediately step into impact roles — it’s best to temper expectations for Dulcich out of the gate. He’s got the tools to be dangerous, but that doesn’t mean he’s going to step right into 50 snaps a game.
I’ve been trying to be patient for the offense to gel, but it’s getting difficult. What’s the big issue keeping us from actually moving the football forward? Is it the O-line? Russell Wilson seems to be constantly getting caught, especially from the right side. We need a better right tackle. Is it that our receivers keep dropping the ball?
— Marshall, Parker
Marshall, it’s the million-dollar (well, probably multi-million dollar) question facing the offense right now. The bottom line is Denver hasn’t done enough things well consistently enough to stay on the field and put pressure on defenses. Sunday against the Raiders, they were good in the first half and then did nothing on first downs for most of the second half. Empty plays and penalties are like potholes that just take the wheels off a drive. The Broncos have had way too many.
One major question is if they’re getting to the point where they’re lacking in weapons. First receiver Tim Patrick tore his ACL in camp, now Javonte Williams did the same Sunday. Those aren’t easily replaceable players. Similarly, Denver is currently playing without its preferred right side of the offensive line — Quinn Meinerz (hamstring) at right guard and Billy Turner (knee) at tackle.
At the end of the day, though, you have to find a way in this league. Everything you mentioned has tripped them up at some point.
Russell Wilson mostly played well Sunday and they’re obviously going to need him to continue to do so. He might have to do a little more with his legs — that’s picked up some the past two games — and they’ll need contributions from a lot of players, including KJ Hamler, Melvin Gordon, Montrell Washington, all of their tight ends, etc. They’re not going to be an overwhelming force at this point, but that’s life in the NFL.
