What You Need to Know:

• The Broncos selected Dulcich with the 80th overall pick of this spring’s draft.
• The UCLA product totaled just 9 catches over his first 2 years on campus. But he broke out with a 26-517-5 line in 7 outings in 2020 and backed that up with a 42-725-5 across 11 games this past year.
• He averaged a big 17.6 yards per catch for his college career and clocked a 4.70-second 40-yard dash at the Combine.
• The 6’4, 243-pounder also recorded above-average marks in the vertical jump, broad jump and 3-cone. He earned an 83rd percentile Relative Athletic Score.
• Denver’s starting TE job is up for grabs after Noah Fant was traded to Seattle this offseason.
• Dulcich will battle for that job with Albert Okwuegbunam.
• The Broncos drafted Okwuegbunam 118th overall in 2020 – 38 spots below where Dulcich was drafted this year.
• Okwuegbunam flashed in limited action behind Fant last year, though, ranking top 11 among 35 qualifying TEs in yards per target, yards per route run and Pro Football Focus receiving grade.
• Multiple Broncos beat writers expect it to be an open competition between Dulcich and Okwuegbunam for snaps and targets this summer. The Denver Post’s Ryan O’Halloran even predicted in May that Dulcich will be ahead of Okwuegbunam on the depth chart by Week 1.
• Russell Wilson will be a big QB upgrade over last year’s tandem of Teddy Bridgewater and Drew Lock. Wilson struggled after suffering a right finger injury last October but was excellent before that and had shown no signs of decline the previous few seasons.
• Denver has a new coaching staff this season led by HC Nathaniel Hackett.
  • It’s Hackett’s first crack at a HC gig. He has 8 years of NFL OC experience: 2013-2014 with the Bills, 2016-2018 with the Jaguars and 2019-2021 with the Packers.
  • Hackett’s Bills and Jaguars offenses – piloted by E.J. Manuel, Kyle Orton and Blake Bortles – were run leaning. But Hackett went pass heavier when he hooked up with Aaron Rodgers. The Packers ranked 7th, 9th and 11th in situation-neutral pass rate the last 3 seasons.
• With Wilson and Hackett in town, we’re projecting the Broncos to pass at a tangibly higher clip than they did last season.

Draft Sharks Bottom Line:

Dulcich is undersized but athletic and projects as a catch-first TE as a pro. He was the 80th overall pick of this spring’s draft. That’s 38 spots ahead of where the Broncos in 2020 drafted Albert Okwuegbunam, who Dulcich will battle with for snaps and targets this summer.

That competition will be worth watching closely, with the winner having a shot at TE1 production with QB Russell Wilson now leading the offense.