Today we continue our annual 90 player roster breakdown in 90 days. If you missed the previous player breakdowns, you can check them out here.
Name: Manasseh Garner
Position: TE/FB
Height: 6'2" Weight: 240
Age: 23 Experience: 2
College: Pittsburgh
Manasseh Garner is a very interesting player due to his versatility. After playing defensive end and wide receiver for two years at Wisconsin, he transferred to Pitt where he played tight end, H-back, and wide receiver for two seasons.
He hasn't quite found a place in the league yet, though. He went undrafted in 2015 and was signed as a CFA by the Chiefs, then waived five days later. He was then picked up by the Cleveland Browns in August, and waived again during roster cut downs. Garner spent the whole season out of play and was signed to the Bills practice squad at the end of December. His practice squad contract expired a few weeks later when the season ended and Denver signed him to a futures contract in January. So needless to say, Garner has pin-balled around the league since entering last year.
The Good: Manasseh's value comes from his versatility. He played WR in college, came into the league as a TE and has worked at FB also. Since coming out as a WR he has also put on weight to play TE/FB more effectively (he was listed at 220 lbs in college). Garner wasn't super productive at Pitt, but did manage 50 catches, 592 yards, and 5 TDs in 23 games. Check out the video below for a highlight of a TD catch he had at Pitt.
The Bad: Garner can only fit in a specific situation or team where he can be utilized creatively on offense and contribute on special teams. He's been compared to a Henry Hynoski type player (who played FB/H-back for the Giants for several years). Unfortunately, he has yet to find that fit after being cut by three teams already in one year, and is a long shot to make it on his fourth.
Quotable: Garner has been seeing some action in practice so far. Check out the reports below for some info on Garner in OTAs.
Paxton Lynch's first rep in 7-ons is a complete to Manasseh Garner over the middle
— Ryan Koenigsberg (@RyanKoenigsberg) May 24, 2016
Broncos had two players working at fullback last weekend -- Andy Janovich & TE Manasseh Garner. Now Toben Opurum is in the mix.
— Andrew Mason (@MaseDenver) May 10, 2016
Tight end/fullback Manasseh Garner has receiving a lot action as a pass catcher in 7 on 7 and team today.
— Cameron Wolfe (@CameronWolfe) May 24, 2016
Status: Like most guys in his situation, Garner is a long shot to make the roster. Fortunately for him, he is in now in one of the few situations where he could perhaps stick if they like his versatility at FB and TE. From the tweets above, it looks like he is already seeing work at FB and is catching passes like a TE. Kubiak loves his tight ends and he could double as a backup to Janovich at full back while providing special teams value.
I'm not holding my breath just because this roster is going to be so hard to crack, but this is probably the best chance Garner is going to get.