Jesse Johnson USA TODAY Sports
The Denver Broncos‘ depth chart at tight end will look different next season, with the free agent departures of Julius Thomas and Jacob Tamme and Owen Daniels being signed to go along with top holdover Virgil Green. A decline in Peyton Manning’s physical talent likely means a move to a much more conservative offense in 2015, and new Broncos’ head coach Gary Kubiak’s offensive system has favored two-tight end sets in the past.
Maxx Williams is clearly the top tight end in this year’s draft class, and he’s likely to be a late first-round pick. The Broncos will particularly miss the production Thomas brought in the red zone (24 touchdowns over the past two seasons), and even with less than stellar quarterbacks throwing him the ball Williams had 13 touchdowns over the last two seasons at Minnesota. We haven’t seen Williams’ full potential as a pass catcher yet, so by moving to the next level with a NFL-caliber quarterback in a pro-style offensive scheme I think he can be an immediate contributor in the right situation.
Even though Manning is not the player he was in his prime, he is still better than most of the quarterbacks around the league. The Broncos have a short window to win a Super Bowl with Manning under center, so adding talent around him that will need a couple years to fully develop is not ideal. Williams needs to refine and improve some areas of his overall game, but as long as he quickly picks up the nuances of a Manning-led offense there’s no reason he can’t produce right out of the gate.
When they are on the clock late in the first round, Williams is the easy and best choice for the Broncos if he is available.
Brad Berreman is a Columnist/Senior Writer at Rant Sports.com. Follow him on Twitter.
