Report: Broncos' TE Jake Butt to play vs. Rams in preseason Game 4

After nearly a year of being sidelined, tight end Jake Butt is returning to the field of play. Per 9NEWS' Mike Klis, the Denver Broncos plan to play Butt on Saturday night in the team's fourth preseason game vs. the Los Angeles Rams.

Ready or not, Butt's time has come. He's got to prove to the Broncos he can persevere through less-than-ideal knee discomfort and not suffer any further setbacks.

Butt has been recovering from a torn ACL suffered in late September last year. It was the third ligament-tear knee injury of his football career.

Butt opened training camp, back on July 18, as at least a limited participant, but hit a 'pothole' in his recovery, as head coach Vic Fangio refers to it. Because he practiced during training camp, by rule, Butt is ineligible to be placed on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list.

His options are only two; make the 53-man roster or go on injured reserve. I guess there are three options, if you consider Denver's prerogative of placing him on the waived/injured list. I don't think parting ways with Butt is even a consideration right now, though.

However, if playing in the Rams game turns out to be too much too soon for that knee, and Butt has to be put back on ice, the Broncos will have to have an inconvenient and painful conversation about his future standing with the team.

Butt was a 2017 fifth-round pick, although he was expected to be a day-two draft choice before he tore his ACL in Michigan's bowl game just a few months before the NFL draft. The Broncos envisioned him as their long-term TE1 but had to hedge against his bad luck by taking Noah Fant in the first round this past spring. They did give Butt two years to heal up and be that guy.

In a perfect world, Fant is the TE1 at some point with Butt as the TE2. In today's NFL, teams almost need to have two playmaking tight ends to challenge defenses.

That's what the Broncos hope is in store for Jake Butt. He's a talented player but the best ability is availability, and simply put, since arriving in Denver, he's spent more time in the training room and on the sideline than he has out on the field of play.

Hopefully, Saturday night marks the turning point in the Butt story so far. With season-ending injuries to Austin Fort and Bug Howard, the Broncos hedged against any further hit the team could take if Butt doesn't work out by signing eighth-year veteran Orson Charles this past week.

Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadNJensen.

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