Justin Joly may end up giving the Broncos exactly the kind of tight end dilemma they’d actually like to have.
Denver’s production at the position was thin in 2025, and the numbers make that plain. The Broncos’ entire tight end room finished with 719 receiving yards, a total that would have ranked ninth in the NFL if it belonged to one player. That mark sat just ahead of Chicago Bears tight end Colston Loveland, who had 713.
That kind of output doesn’t cut it for a team with Super Bowl aspirations, especially after Denver spent in free agency to bring in Evan Engram. So the Broncos attacked the position in the 2026 NFL Draft, using two picks there and even trading up in the fifth round to land North Carolina State standout Justin Joly.
Joly arrives with real pass-catching juice. He hauled in 166 passes across 49 college games, and that gives Denver a chance to feature a tight end in the passing game in a way it simply didn’t last season.
The setup in Denver makes the question even more interesting. The Broncos were in 11 personnel - three receivers, one back and one tight end - 64.2 percent of the time in 2025, according to Sharp Football Analysis, which ranked 10th in the league.
That alignment isn’t the issue. The problem was how little the tight end position gave them when they were in it.
Adam Trautman was the primary tight end for most of the year, logging 651 snaps and 57.1 percent of the offense’s total. Engram, meanwhile, played just 458 snaps, a career-low 40.18 percent of the Broncos’ offensive snaps.
And on those 651 snaps, Trautman drew only 23 targets. That’s a brutal return for a player who led the position by nearly 200 snaps.
If Denver is going to keep leaning on 11 personnel, its main tight end has to be a much bigger part of the passing game. Joly’s arrival suggests the Broncos understand that.
There’s also a clear ripple effect here for Engram, who is entering the final year of his deal. Joly could step into a “big brother” sort of setup as the apparent heir apparent, but Denver also has to find a better way to use Engram this season and get him on the field more often.
The fact that the Broncos made Joly a Day 3 priority hints at a possible shift in how they want the offense to look in 2026. They knew they needed more dynamic play at tight end when they signed Engram, but they may have realized the shortage ran even deeper than they thought.
Now the new wrinkle belongs to Davis Webb, who is calling the plays. With Joly in the mix, the Broncos may have a tight end group that’s too dangerous as receivers to keep hidden.
That opens the door to more 12 personnel, or to a bigger role for Joly in the kind of versatile usage Nate Adkins has handled before. Heavy packages were part of Denver’s identity last year, but the real question is whether those looks now feature more of Joly and Engram, maybe even Dallen Bentley.
Those are the kinds of answers training camp has to provide. And if Joly shows out early, he could force both Davis Webb and Sean Payton to make some decisions they’ll be happy to have.
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