FanPost

Marques Branson, meet your competition: Kory Sperry

With the pickup of Kory Sperry at TE off the waiver wire from Miami the Broncos have found someone they think might be able to play out of the H-back position in a similar way to how Marques Branson lines up.

The Broncos currently have four TE's on the roster: Daniel Graham, Richard Quinn, Marques Branson and Riar Geer and the newly signed Sperry. Graham and Quinn are the power blockers who can make the occasional reception, with Graham being the master of his position and Quinn learning as he goes and hopefully one day will be able to take over for the very expensive Graham.

Branson is the H-back, lining up behind the line of scrimmage much of the time, able to be very effective in pass protection while providing a bit of a chip block upon the pass rush and then running a safety valve route for Orton. Or perhaps providing a compliment to Graham in a two tight end set, Branson being the superior receiver.

So what about Geer and Sperry? Much like Akin Ayodole, Geer was given the opportunity to start and play quite a bit in the Detroit game: one last opportunity to let the Broncos know he deserved a spot on the team. Ayodole, obviously failed to make the grade and was let go.

Riar Geer is still on the team, so maybe he showed something to the coaching staff, but the fact that they went out and picked up another TE does not bode well for Geer's shot at a roster spot.

Sperry will be brought along on practice squad as an insurance policy in case Marques Branson is injured. I think the H-back will be an important cog in McD's playbook.

This from CBS Sports on Sperry: "More of an H-back than a traditional tight end capable of blocking out of the three-point stance, Sperry's chances of being anything more than a late-round gamble depends on the trend of NFL offensive coordinators looking for players who present athletic mismatches."

TE is a very complicated position where finesse, intellegence and versatility can take you further than raw strength and speed, especially in the Bronco-Patriot offense. If an undrafted TE like Branson can be brought along in a single year then I see it totally possible that a guy like Sperry could come on and do something similar with a year on the practice squad.

This is a Fan-Created Comment on MileHighReport.com. The opinion here is not necessarily shared by the editorial staff of MHR.