Tight end Butt tries to stay positive despite woes

Broncos tight end Jake Butt is familiar with the process of rehabilitating and then returning from an ACL injury.

There are highs, days when he pushes himself physically and feels great the next morning. And there are lows, days when his body isn’t cooperating. The last two weeks have represented the latter.

Following a relatively smooth rehabilitation this offseason, Butt hasn’t been on the field since July 20. On Monday, he missed his 10th consecutive practice.

“Structurally, everything looks great in my knee,” said Butt, who participated in the first three practices of training camp but in limited fashion. “There’s no injury to report back. It’s just soreness, which is frustrating because my other two I came back from, I had none of that. I’ve always been able to come back quicker than they expect.”

Butt suffered torn ACLs in high school, in his final game at Michigan and in practice last October. While admitting he is frustrated by the current setback, he remains positive he can work back into shape.

“I think a lot of people are more panicked than I am,” he said. “Look, it’s three ACLs. I know one person who has done this: (current Chargers linebacker) Thomas Davis. I don’t know anybody else.”

While not panicked, the current setback has been an emotional jolt.

“Mentally, it’s the hardest thing I’ve ever been through in my life,” Butt said. “I want to be out there more than anything. But when it’s your third ACL, you don’t want push through anything. It’s part of the process. I’ll be back out there soon and hopefully put together a stretch of a few good weeks.”

Butt said he didn’t error by practicing at the start of camp.

“No, I definitely didn’t too much,” he said. “They were being smart with me. I can’t really chalk it up to anything else.”

The strategy for Butt and the Broncos now is a sound one: Rehab to a level where he stays on the field when he returns to the field.

“I’m feeling good now, but you don’t want to go out there and not be 100 percent and then have a setback,” Butt said. “I don’t want to practice one day and then be out for a week. Once I’m out there, I want to be out there playing again.”

Last week, Broncos coach Vic Fangio said one of the staff’s tasks is keeping Butt’s spirits up because having to sit out again has clearly jolted him.

“Oh man, it’s so frustrating,” Butt said. “I went through nine months working with (strengthand-conditioning coach Loren) Landow and the trainers and I had none of this soreness. This is something that just happened and it’s even harder when you have to sit back and watch other guys practice and you can’t get out there. I have good people around me — friends and coaches — keeping my focus because this is what I love to do. I’m all in on this.”