Rookie TE Dulcich gives offense needed lift
LONDON >> Backed up at his own 2-yard line with 98 yards of green grass out front of his first possession of the second half, Denver quarterback Russell Wilson turned to the guy who’s been playing NFL games for all of two weeks.
Rookie tight end Greg Dulcich, though, has already put himself squarely in the picture as one of the Broncos’ best-receiving options. And he came up big again at Wembley Stadium.
Dulcich hauled in an 18-yarder on the first play of the drive to provide some breathing room. Then a 22-yarder and then another big play for 38 nearly reached the end zone.
The Broncos punched in a 1-yard Melvin Gordon touchdown run at the end of the 98-yard scoring march on which Dulcich produced 78 yards.
“He’s been really special,” Wilson said of the third-round draft pick out of UCLA. “When I first threw the ball to him the first day — when you’ve thrown as many footballs as I’ve thrown over how many years of throwing, the first three throws you can tell, ‘ OK, he’s got it.’ There’s just something to it.
“He’s obviously got some freakish ability. Obviously, he was out for a while, for several weeks, but to have his ability catching the football like he can and all the things he can do is great.”
This was just Dulcich’s third game after missing the first five due to a hamstring injury he originally suffered back in June.
He finished with a gamehigh 87 receiving yards on four grabs and has wasted little time making himself indispensable to the Denver offense.
“I’ll tell you, his blocking ability has helped us,” head coach Nathaniel Hackett said. “He strains. He’s not a killer over there. It’s maybe not something you want to major in, but his ability in the run game and then his ability to go down the field, both vertically and in that intermediate zone, is really impressive.
“… Russ is starting to get a nice flow with him and he’s got great hair, which is really impressive. Watching him come in, especially after not playing football for so long, I give him and Jake Moreland, his coach, so much credit for getting him ready to play right away.”
Dulcich has rendered Albert Okwuegbunam a regular inactive and trade candidate and turned Eric Saubert into a role player.
Through three games, Dulcich has 12 catches (16 targets) for 182 yards and a touchdown.
On the season the other four tight ends on the Broncos roster have 20 catches (36 targets) for 209 yards and a touchdown.
“Obviously I was out for a long time, but the other tight ends, they really helped me along and once it was time for me to get in, I was comfortable,” Dulcich said. “… The coaches do a real good job of making sure that we know what to expect before we get out there. There’s nothing that’s really been thrown at me so far that we haven’t gone over.”