Virgil Green "everything you would want in a great tight end" for Broncos

One of the longest tenured Denver Broncos quietly walks through the locker room, intermittently stopping by various offensive position group’s lockers to crack a joke or give a rookie a hard time. Although he doesn’t make the headlines on Sunday’s he may be one of the most vital players on the roster.

Virgil Green, a seventh-round draft pick in 2011, has already beat the odds. He has also seen big name tight ends come and go through his six-year tenure while being signed to a multi-year deal. With the Broncos’ tight end group possibly as thin as they have been in several years behind Green’s broad shoulders, his team certainly appreciate his versatile role.

“It’s been an issue for us for such a long time, with Jeff [Heuerman] missing so much time and then we bring [TE] John [Phillips] in here and John got hurt,” Head Coach Gary Kubiak said Thursday when asked of Green’s consistency. “We had some issues going on. The fact that Virgil has held up the way he has, and has become the player that he’s become, is a big positive for our football team.”

In an age of increasingly one-dimensional tight ends, either a great route runner or strictly a run blocker, Green has shown he can do both. When a tight end group comes down with injuries like the Broncos have it makes a player like Green immensely valuable.

“He’s everything you would want in a great tight end,” Linebacker Todd Davis said Friday. “He works super hard every day; his routes are super crisp. He is one of the people I like going against to try and elevate my game. He is really that good. He is just really intense. He comes to work every day and works hard and he is great in the pass and the run because he works at it every day.”

Green has yet to have a breakout receiving season, compiling a career season best of just 12 catches for 173 yards on 2015 but he has been relied on his entire career as a run blocker and even a fullback at times.

In March of 2015, General Manager John Elway signed Green to a three-year $8.4 million contract rather than see him walk via free agency like fellow tight end Julius Thomas. In 2016 he can make a base salary of $2.4 million and $2.8 million in 2017. Training to become a well-rounded player is what Green attributes to his new contract and staying in Denver.

“I take a lot of pride in it,” Green said Thursday of being a dual-threat tight end. “I sit and watch film; a lot of the tight ends in the league you just know they don’t want to stick their nose in there and get physical. For me, that’s why I am still here. I’m a physical guy. I don’t care about any of that stuff. I just want to go out there, do my job and do it well.”

Last season Green started six contests and played in every game but only participated in 34.5 percent of offensive snaps. Owen Daniels took the bulk of the workload, playing in 74.6 percent of offensive snaps. Vernon Davis also took some of the pass play opportunities away from Green but both are now gone, opening up the giant role for Green to be both for the Broncos.

Heuerman is a highly touted second-year tight end who missed his entire rookie season with an anterior cruciate ligament injury to his knee and also missed week one with an ankle issue but was a full participant in practice Thursday and Friday. Newly acquired Phillips, the only other tight end on the roster, is primarily a blocking tight end and is also set to play Sunday. The limited ability of both players only increases the importance of Green and his knowledge of the offense.

“He’s huge man,” C.J. Anderson said Friday when asked how important Green is. “There are not too many ‘do-it-all’ tight ends in the league anymore and Virgil is one of them. He’s going to block, catch and even get it your head too. It’s good to have someone like that. ‘Virg’ pretty much jump started my career with some runs behind him too.”

The large, “do-it-all” tight end may finally be in line for the breakout year he has worked so hard for. Regardless of the numbers he may or may not put up, he certainly is now more important to the Broncos than ever before.