Broncos TE Greg Dulcich Opens Up About Strengthening a Big Weakness
Having missed last season’s training camp, Denver Broncos tight end Greg Dulcich was put on a steep rookie learning curve when the regular season hit. Now in Year 2, Dulcich's NFL education is getting firmly back on track this summer.
Dulcich has received some veteran assistance thanks to Sean Payton's decision to sign tight end Chris Manhertz this past offseason. The second-year Dulcich has a mentor to guide him through how best to prepare as a pro.
“Chris Manhertz, he's really the guy that's out here earliest," Dulcich said on Friday. "He's out here at midnight doing his stuff before practice. And so we're kind of piggybacking off of him and having a guy like him, having leadership like that in our room has been really valuable. But yeah, I’ve just been trying to work on my hands, work my steps, all that sort of stuff.”
Mahertz takes more than just a studious approach to honing his craft, as his proficiency as a college basketball player allows him to box out and leverage defenders. One of Payton's trusted coaching lieutenants, Declan Doyle, has followed his former boss to the Mile High City after cutting his teeth in New Orleans.
Doyle's intensive coaching combined with Manhertz's on-field tutelage has helped Dulcich's progress improve by leaps and bounds.
“Like you say, coaching. That's the biggest thing, and Coach Doyle has been great with us in all aspects of the game,” Dulcich said. ”I'm really happy to be working with him.”
Many a flashy pass-catching tight end has come and gone in the NFL, so if Dulcich is going to survive and thrive, he's got to get his head around doing the dirty work when it comes to the far less glamorous assignment of blocking. Thankfully, underneath Dulcich's surfer-boy good looks resides a super-focused student determined to do the grunt work required of him.
“Definitely better, but there's a lot obviously to improve on,” Dulcich said regarding his blocking skills. “First and second-step hand placement—all that sort of stuff. And that's kind of trying to be a focal point that me and Coach Doyle have been working on and especially with our whole room. But that’s something that I personally want to improve in my game.”
History tells us how much a Payton offense relies on its tight ends to make his things tick. Therefore, developing a determined and focused tight end group is going to be a gold commodity moving forward.
Come Week 1, Dulcich will likely be perched atop the depth chart, and the former UCLA star fully appreciates the opportunity he's facing in Payton's tight end-friendly scheme.
“I think what we can do with the tight ends on this offense and with this scheme, it's really cool,” Dulcich said. “And so far, we've already kind of been able to just scratch the surface of that. So it'll be cool to see how that kind of grows.”
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