The Broncos’ final tight end call last week turned heads, and not just because of who stayed. Denver kept seventh-round rookie Dallen Bentley on the 53-man roster, waived fifth-round rookie Justin Joly, and then watched Joly get claimed by the Miami Dolphins.
That decision left plenty of people scratching their heads, especially since Bentley didn’t light up the preseason stat sheet. But the Broncos may be betting on a familiar kind of player here - the sort of tight end whose value shows up in the dirty work, not the highlight reel.
Denver has seen that blueprint work before.
The name that fits best is Virgil Green, a 2011 seventh-round pick who carved out a long NFL run after arriving in Denver as the second tight end the team drafted that year. The Broncos also took Julius Thomas in the fourth round in 2011, and Thomas got the early attention. He was a game-day inactive through the 2011 season and sat out a few games in 2012 before breaking through in 2013 as a red-zone weapon for Peyton Manning.
Green’s impact looked different. He wasn’t the headline act, but he was useful in ways coaches notice immediately.
He blocked, he contributed on special teams, and he was active much more often than Thomas in 2011 and 2012. Even after Thomas’s role expanded, Green kept getting snaps.
After the 2014 season, Thomas left for the Jacksonville Jaguars, while the Broncos kept Green on a three-year deal. His role on offense grew from there.
He never became a high-volume target, but when the ball came his way, he made the most of it. From 2015 to 2017, Green was targeted 74 times and caught 48 passes, doing that work during a stretch when Denver was trying to settle its quarterback situation after Manning retired and Brock Osweiler signed with the Houston Texans.
Green eventually finished his career with the Los Angeles Chargers, still doing the same kind of job that kept him around in the first place: blocking well and helping the offense function.
That’s the lane Bentley appears headed for. His best traits are as a blocker, even though he was also a solid college pass catcher. The preseason numbers didn’t tell a big story, but that doesn’t rule out a useful rookie year.
The likeliest path is Bentley competing with Nate Adkins for playing time while handling blocking duties and special teams work. He could also get some targets on passing plays if the Broncos want to see what he can do there.
That matters in Sean Payton’s offense. Payton values tight ends and receivers who can block, because that helps with pass protection, creates room for running backs, and sets up more yards after the catch for Broncos receivers.
There’s still a natural wish among fans for a tight end who can become a red-zone threat or help more on passing downs, and the Broncos still seem to like Caleb Lohner - another seventh-round pick - so that conversation isn’t going away.
But Bentley shouldn’t be overlooked just because his role may be less flashy. A tight end who does the jobs fans don’t always notice can still be a real asset.
If Bentley ends up with anything close to the kind of career Green had, that would be a strong return on a seventh-round pick.
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