ENGLEWOOD – They don't make 'em like Jake Butt.
Here, the Broncos' tight end had just suffered his third anterior cruciate ligament tear in 4 1/2 years around noon Thursday at his team's UCHealth Training Center headquarters and what were his sentiments by early evening?
"I feel lucky,'' he said in a phone interview with 9News. "I have so many wonderful people around me for support. I’ve had so many people reach out to me and tell me they’re praying for me and thinking of me. I’m so blessed.”
Butt tore the ACL to his left knee during a non-contact special teams practice Thursday, an injury that will finish his season after just three games. Although it happened prior to the official start of practice that is open to the media, Butt wanted it clear the injury did not occur during a walkthrough portion of practice as was widely reported, including by 9News.
"I'm not that soft,'' he said. "I don't want people thinking I was walking around and stepped on a pebble or something.''
The injury occurred as Butt decelerated while covering a kickoff in practice.
"I made a cut and I knew it right away,'' he said.
Unfortunately, he knew from way too much experience. Butt had suffered two torn right ACLs during his college career at Michigan. Each injury required surgery to repair and Butt is slated for a third ACL surgery in the near future.
It’s devastating news not only to the Broncos, who lost their best tight end receiving threat – Butt had eight catches for 85 yards through three games – but to player himself.
"Jake has worked his tail off to recover from his previous injuries, and we feel terrible for him," head coach Vance Joseph said in a statement. "He's a great kid who's developed into a very good football player. We have no doubt Jake will come back stronger than ever."
Butt won the John Mackey Award as the nation’s best tight end during his senior season at Michigan in 2016, but he suffered a torn ACL in the Orange Bowl.
That injury forced Butt to slip from a second-round projection in the 2017 draft to fifth round by the Broncos.
“Yeah it was difficult but it’s really difficult for everybody on draft day,’’ Butt said in a sit-down interview with 9News last week. “Everybody has an idea where they’re going to go, where they think they should go, and then the reality of where they do go. My set of circumstances were different, I got hurt. So my idea once I got hurt is you can’t look back on it. You can’t get down on yourself. It is what it is and wherever I ended up I was going to give it my best and be grateful for the opportunity.
“It ended up working out great. I’m really happy I’m here in Denver. I think I have a great opportunity with a good tight end room under a good coaching staff to really set my career off on the right tone and hopefully have a long successful career.’’
While many question how much of a career he will have now that he's suffered his third torn ACL since February 2014, several players have returned from three ACL injuries, including Carolina Panther All Pro linebacker Thomas Davis and former Pittsburgh Steelers defensive lineman Casey Hampton, a five-time Pro Bowler.
So don't count out Butt, who said he is planning to play next season. The knee may be damaged but not his indomitable will.
"It's my other knee,'' he said. The grueling, grind of "rehab isn't so bad,'' he said. "It's not being out there when you want to that makes it tough.''
With Butt finished for the season -- surgery will be determined in the next couple days -- Matt LaCosse figures to become Jeff Heuerman's partner at the Broncos’ tight end position. The Broncos are also expected to call up Brian Parker from the practice squad. It's also wouldn't be a surprise if the Broncos placed a call to Austin Traylor, a tight end who was with the team from 2016 until he was among the final cuts earlier this month. The Broncos have another tight end, rookie Troy Fumagalli, on season-ending injured reserve with a sports hernia/groin injury.
In a cruel twist, Heuerman suffered a torn ACL during a similar kickoff coverage drill during the Broncos' rookie minicamp in 2015. Heuerman missed that season and has just now developed into the kind of quality, starting tight end the Broncos envisioned when they drafted him in the third round out of Ohio State.
