Denver Broncos fans were very hopeful that tight end Greg Dulcich would stay healthy in 2024. After both of his first two seasons were interrupted by the injury bug in one form or another, the thought was that, if he could stay healthy, it was only a matter of time until he found ways to produce on the field.
Cut to Week 5 and Dulcich has avoided the injury bug, but it hasn't translated to production on the field. Some of that could be his own failings and getting back into the rhythms of playing weekly in the NFL, some of it could be scheme, and a good part of it could be his chemistry with rookie quarterback Bo Nix — or lack thereof.
Whatever the root cause is, in order for the Broncos to even come close to reaching their potential in 2024, Dulcich needs to make an impact. The team's tight end position is lackluster, on paper, but he was supposed to offset that. So how do the Broncos get Dulcich more involved?
“That's a great question and we're working through different personnel groupings," head coach Sean Payton said on Wednesday as the Broncos prepare to host the Las Vegas Raiders. "We have to keep finding creative ways where—not even just on third down, but first and second down. Obviously, last week was a little bit more challenging, but it's still a work in progress.”
Denver's passing game last week was tough sledding, with Nix only completing 12-of-25 passes to seven different receivers. Dulcich wasn't one of them, though he did garner a target.
On the season, Dulcich has been targeted 12 times by Nix, totaling five receptions for just 28 yards. The Broncos' passing game has been oddly horizontal thus far, as Payton works to break in the first-round quarterback.
All of the receivers have suffered as a result of it, including Dulcich. The flip-side to that coin is that if you study the tape, you'll see that Denver's receivers have struggled to create separation and get open consistently.
It's very much a chicken-or-the-egg proposition.
Adding insult to injury, Payton has had to bear down and deploy some heavy personnel packages to help bolster Denver's anemic run game. The rushing attack has begun to bear fruit, but when Dulcich is on the field, he's still a liability as a blocker.
That makes it more challenging for Payton to scheme targets Dulcich's way because if opponents are able to key in on the tight end's snap share being relegated mostly to 11 personnel (3 WR/1 TE), it telegraphs that the play is almost certain to be a pass. Thus, we see that the onus is really on Dulcich.
Payton can try harder to get creative in Dulcich's usage and Nix could force-feed him targets, but until the third-year tight end takes his blocking technique more seriously and demands the ball by getting open consistently, the rookie quarterback will look elsewhere. As a 2022 third-round pick out of UCLA, the Broncos were hoping for more out of Dulcich, just like the fan base.
