Albert Okwuegbunam looks to pick up where he left off

Back in early December of last year after Denver Broncos tight end Albert Okwuegbunam underwent surgery to repair a torn ACL, there was some doubt if he would be able to rehab before Week 1 of the next season. In mid-February, we learned that his rehab was progressing right on schedule and he would see his first game action in the final preseason game putting him right on track to play in Week 1.

Against the Los Angeles Rams last week, Okwuegbunam caught three passes for 23 yards. Most importantly, he played like he wasn’t thinking about his knee at all. A good sign he is 100% ready to go.

“Yeah, exactly,” Okwuegbunam said of his hurdling of defenders against the Rams. “I feel like that’s a pretty good example of how I’m not even thinking about it out there. The first two times I got tackled, they just dove at my leg. I told myself the next I catch the ball; I’m jumping and that’s what I did. I’m not thinking about it at all.”

He went on to talk about his confidence level with his knee being very high and his expectations of the season also being high. Head Coach Vic Fangio confirmed those expectations saying Okwuegbunam picked up right where he left off last season before getting injured.

“He’s just picked up from where he left off last year,” Fangio said. “If you remember last year, he didn’t play much early, then he was starting to play more. [He was] playing [well], having success. He’s just picked up right from where he left off there. He’s blocking [well]. He’s a much better blocker than I think people are aware of. We know he can catch, and he’s a good runner after the catch. I’m really excited about him.”

Paired with Noah Fant, the Broncos will have an insane amount of weapons around new starting quarterback Teddy Bridgewater. In fact, let’s just list them all out: Courtland Sutton, Jerry Jeudy, Noah Fant, KJ Hamler, Albert Okwuegbunam, Melvin Gordon, and Javonte Williams. That’s quite a bit of talent for opposing defenses to contend with this season.

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