Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton's desire to create competition at every position hints at future tough decisions when it comes time to trim down the roster.
The tight end room, in particular, will see new arrivals like Chris Manhertz and Adam Trautman added into a mix with incumbents Greg Dulcich and Albert Okwuegbunam. It promises to provide a level of competition that will see different skill sets brought to the table, but not all will make the roster.
As Manhertz sees it, the diverse range of talents in Denver's tight end room is a strength
"We all have obviously our different strengths," Manhertz said Aric DiLalla of the team site. "I guess it's on the coach just to plug-and-play us and put us in positions to be effective and be successful within the offense. I think it works well and it's a very complementary room for us to be able to exploit different things, whether it's in the pass game or the run game."
As a former college basketball player, Manhertz making the transition to football has been more about technique and honing the efficiency of his blocking skills. That provides a stark contrast to other converted basketball players like ex-Bronco Julius Thomas, who made his living primarily catching passes.
"I honestly think it all started from just figuring out a way to make a team early on in my career and figuring out ways that I could stick and finding a weak point within the respective tight end rooms that I've been a part of," Manhertz said via DiLalla. "I know there's always going to be a demand, there's always going to be a need for players like that and also just the way, the direction things are going in the run game and setting up certain plays in play action, a lot of that is established off a run game. It's kind of a niche thing, but like I said, I just have the mentality that somebody has to do it. And why not me?"
Eight years spent carving out such a distinctive niche to earn an NFL living is a testament to Manhertz’s perseverance, as well as his football IQ. Manhertz's arrival shows how Payton is surrounding himself with hard-nosed football players who aren't afraid to do some heavy lifting.
Standing at 6-foot-6 and weighing 235 pounds, Manhertz certainly has the physical attributes to move some bigger bodies in the running game. Beyond his God-given abilities to attack blocking assignments, his mindset in embracing it perhaps set him apart.
"I like to think most of it is a mentality, because most of us, just as tight ends, we're all pretty similar in size," Manhertz said via DiLalla. "We all have very similar abilities. It's just a matter of which one you really want to embrace and be good at. That's the way I look at it."
The challenge is to first make the roster in Denver, but considering how early in free agency Payton targeted Manhertz, the Broncos obviously coveted Manhertz’s unique talents. Manhertz takes up the new challenge with the Broncos with the exact kind of level-headed grounding that has served him well and established his head coach's trust in him.
“Every year, I always kind of reassess and re-evaluate and see what things there are to improve,” Manhertz told DiLalla. “I look back and every year, whether it’s a different coach or certain things that go on within a game, there’s still a lot to learn. I think that’s a career-long process.”
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