ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — A football team does not succeed on Russell Wilson-type players alone.
It takes all types of players, including blocking tight ends like Eric Tomlinson, whom the Broncos added Tuesday night on a one-year deal.
At 6-foot-6, 265 pounds, Tomlinson is all block, very little catch. Undrafted out of UTEP in 2015, Tomlinson is now with his eighth team in eight professional seasons. He has just 18 career receptions -- 2 for 8 yards the previous three years -- but he played in all 17 games for the Baltimore Ravens last season, starting 7.
Tomlinson, who turns 30 next month, will replace Eric Saubert as the Broncos' in-line tight end who will play about 20 to 25 percent of the offensive snaps as a complement to receiver-type tight end Albert Okwuegbunam.
The Broncos' staff of head coach Nathaniel Hackett, who will call the offensive plays, offensive coordinator and former tight end coach Justin Outten, and current tight ends coach Jake Moreland identified Tomlinson before free agency began this week as the tight end who would well-fit their West Coast blocking scheme.
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