Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - Denver Broncos' Justin Joly Can ELEVATE Tight End Room Behind Evan Engram
Episode Date: July 2, 2026Denver Broncos rookie tight end Justin Joly can help elevate the team's tight end room behind Evan Engram as a move-around piece who can offer value in the receiving and blocking department. How does ...Joly project in year one, why are some of his traits too important to ignore as he enters his rookie season. Cody Roark and Sayre Bedinger break down Joly's projection for his rookie season inside of the Broncos offense. Cody Roark is a credentialed beat reporter for Mile High Sports and covers the Broncos daily in person. Sayre Bedinger is the site expert for Predominantly Orange. Both bring Broncos Country the most in-depth and objective coverage of the Denver Broncos. WANT MORE DAILY DENVER BRONCOS CONTENT? For all of the latest Denver Broncos news today -- Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms 🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/podcasts/locked-on-broncos/ Locked On NFL League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft, & More 🎧 https://lockedonpodcasts.com/leagues/nfl/ 📲 Cody Roark Twitter / (https://twitter.com/codyroarknfl) 📲 Cody Roark Instagram / (https://instagram.com/codyroarknfl) 📲 Sayre Bedinger Twitter / (https://twitter.com/sayrebedinger) Everydayer Club If you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. one 📲 https://lockedonbroncos.supercast.com/ TEXT LINE: Support the show and interact with us on Denver Broncos rumors, News, Game Previews, Q&A's, and more. 📲 https://joinsubtext.com/c/lockedonbroncos 📲 TEXT: (720) 580-5759 📢 Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Odoo Great organizations win because operations matter. And that’s why you should get Odoo. Try for free today at https://Odoo.com/lockedon. FanDuel Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. From the opening whistle to the final kick, Let There Be Goals on FanDuel. Visit https://FANDUEL.COM to get started now. Square If you’re starting a business, or running one that deserves better tools, Square helps you sell, manage, and grow without slowing down. Right now, you can get up to $200 off Square hardware at https://square.com/go/LockedOnNFL. Indeed Listeners of this show get a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to help give your job the premium placement it deserves at http://Indeed.com/podcast. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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Denver Broncos rookie tight-in.
Justin Jolie can learn a lot from Evan Ingram.
And that could impact how he plays.
You are Locked-on Broncos, your daily Denver Broncos podcast.
Part of the Locked-on podcast network, your team every day.
What's up, Broncos country?
Cody Rourke, Sarah Beniger here for another episode of the show.
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Now, as we talk about Justin Jolie,
We've gone around and broken down every single Broncos rookie draft pick from this year and analyze their fit, their projection and what they may do.
We'll go through and see what Justin Jolie can do alongside Evan Ingram this upcoming season as the two players play a very similar position at tight end inside of Sean Payton's offense.
We'll also go through how Jolie can impact Denver's tight-in room that returns a lot of experience, but is also one of their biggest question marks.
We're going to kick things off by going through highlighting what we think we like about Justin Jolie here early on,
seen from him in mini camp and other things that sets the stage for training camp and obviously
this upcoming season. Sarah, I'm excited about Jolie just because he is this different element that
Denver's added to a position room that you and I have talked about. I'd say what, two off seasons
in a row like, hey, Denver needs to add to this room. They go out last year. They add Evan
Ingram and we're very excited. Like, you know what? This is it. This is the missing piece. And the
Broncos had a really hard time figuring out how to consistently utilize the personnel at tight-in. Well,
Now Denver goes into a position where they're returning Adam Trotman,
they're returning Evan Ingram, but they've added Dallin Bentley.
They've added Justin Jolie.
Let's focus on Jolie here because he is more of this F-type move around tight end,
can play inline, but he's going to be this move around piece that can line up in line.
He can line up offset and he can also line up in the backfield.
Yeah, he's a really versatile piece and he's somebody who developed a ton in his overall game
over the course of his college career, started off at Yukon, ended up at NC State.
I didn't know you had an episode.
Fans can search it up where you talk to his tight ends coach from NC State this past season.
And certainly you feel like where he grew the most is his overall just hands, right?
I mean, and that's something the Broncos have struggled with the most.
This guy does not drop passes.
I mean, in two years at NC State, 92 receptions, 1,150 receiving yards, 11 touchdowns,
a big play threat, 12 and a half yards per catch.
And I really liked what we saw from him as a big slot option.
which again, it wasn't missing from the Broncos offense,
but I would say they typically were utilizing receivers to play those positions,
right?
They're using Lil Jordan Humphrey.
They're using Pat Bryant.
They're using other players like that.
Cortland Sutton flipping into the slot every once in a while.
So we see these receivers playing out of the big slot role.
We don't often see, and it was a huge gripe that we had last year of not really seeing
much of Evan Ingram.
He played, what, 42% of the team's offensive snaps, the lowest snap percentage of his career.
because the Broncos, when they would go to 12 personnel and 13 personnel,
they were going heavy.
They were going with guys who can mostly block.
And so that's why we saw the team go after Mercedes-Lewis.
You almost wonder, with Davis Webb now taking over play calling offensively,
does that shift the philosophy of how you utilize these players
and what packages of personnel you use?
Because Justin Jolie has that type of skill set to be a big slot,
not that he can't play in line or on the line of scrimmage,
but man, he's really most effective in what we saw playing from that big slot position.
And the things I like that you can do with him, especially inside of Denver's offense.
And look, if Denver wants to get creative with he and Evan Ingram on the field together at the same time, certainly they can.
But the one thing that you would look at Jolie and talking to Gavin Lockley or his tight end coach at NC State,
he brought up the episode of fans.
I encourage you if you haven't seen it, go check it out.
He gives a lot of great insight into the type of player that Justin is.
but I like how Justin really took it upon himself.
After his first year at NC State, he debated.
He weighed back and forth.
Do I go for the NFL draft now,
or do I go back another year?
Do I refine my game?
And the focus was he wanted to refine his game.
He wanted to be a better all-around tight-in prospect.
He was a really good receiving threat.
He even added 40 pounds when he came from Yukon all the way to NC State.
And the thing is, you don't necessarily need him 40 pounds heavier.
You can find a happy medium between 20 to 15 potential pounds there.
But the thing is, he embraced blocking.
When you watch him on film, this is a guy who understood the angles to take.
There were times where he's lined up next to the offensive tackle.
He's kickstepping against an outside linebacker and pass protection when his team is backed up into their own goal line.
So there was this element of trust that NC State's coaching staff had in him to say, you know what, number seven's fine.
And how they would line him up is they would line him up offset underneath the formation.
And I like how they bring him back underneath Denver's offense.
I don't know if fans have paid much attention to this,
but if you go back and watch some games last season,
you will see Nate Adkins lined up offset of the line of scrimmage,
not necessarily Evan Ingram,
but like Nate Adkins next to an offensive tackle.
And they bring him back as soon as the ball of stat,
they bring him back underneath the formation to kick out a backside defensive end
or an outside linebacker, or he'd be a backside blitz picker-upper.
I mean, that's not even a rule of picker-upper.
We're going to do that, though.
But they would identify him as one of those.
guys that because of the physicality, they can release him out there to block.
But here's where things open up.
Jolie's hands, his size, he has the ability to be that guy where he can release underneath
chip, leak out to the flat and be a pass catching option for Bo Nix.
And one of the things that Locklear said is he really excelled in scrambled drill situations.
What does Bo Nicks do really well?
He knows how to use his legs.
Scramble drill has been better for Denver since Boe has become the quarterback here in
the Mile High City.
and this is where Joe Lee could come in and also have an impact for him going forward.
Is it going to be as a rookie?
I'm not quite sure we'll get into that projection,
but that's an area of his game that the Broncos really did like.
Yeah, we saw him not only on scramble drill, Cody,
but also just in terms of contested catches.
I mean, one of his best plays and one that you broke down with Locklear was the catch
that he had to beat Florida State essentially.
And it was one of those plays where you kind of just flex a little bit of talent, right?
And exactly what he brings to the table.
God-given gifts of size and big hands and just strength at the catch point and the ability to high point the ball,
those things that necessarily you can't teach.
I mean, you can teach some of it, right?
You can coach some of it or you can practice all of it.
But certainly when it comes to a play like that in crunch time, clutch time, your quarterback believing,
hey, if I throw the ball up to my guy, he's going to come down with it.
That's the type of player that I feel.
That's what I saw from Justin Jolie.
When I watched him play is like the quarterback at NC State understood.
When I throw the ball, whether it's scramble drill, whether it's in the rhythm of the play,
whatever it may be, crunch time situation, third down situation, red zone situation.
I know that if I throw it to Joe Lee, he's going to catch it.
And that's where I feel like the Broncos have been lacking, right?
Is those trustworthy guys, like any fans listening to this, no.
We've all sat there throughout every single week and every game.
every time Bow Nix throws a pass,
and I know that's maybe a bit of an exaggeration or a bit hyperbolic here,
but every time Bo Nix throws a pass,
you kind of are worried, like,
is the receiver going to come down with it?
You know what I'm saying?
I mean, it doesn't,
the Broncos have basically led the NFL in drops the last two seasons.
And that's been partly due to the tight end position, right?
And so when you see the ball in the air,
you're almost worried for a split second
that it's not going to come down in the hands of a,
playmaker. That was something they clearly emphasized this off season, whether it's bringing in
Jalen Waddle, drafting somebody like Justin Jolie. We even talked in an earlier episode this week on
Jonah Coleman, right? Where, hey, he had one drop on 120-something targets. So you bring in these
sure-handed players who are proving like, hey, like you can trust me when the ball is in the air.
That's one thing that I love the most about this pick.
And even that's kind of the archetype in the last couple of drafts, Pat Bryant, not many drops in
his college career. You even look at, we'll talk about him later on in the week.
Dallin Bentley, another guy who didn't have many drops. That is something that is very important
to Sean Payton and this coaching staff, at least offensively. And I liked the ability for
Jolie to use his size. You know, here's the thing. We say size. People are like,
well, man, you know, he's undersized for the tight end. But yes, but he has the size to box out
defenders, right? He's not necessarily a gronk size type player. He's not like that big body tight
in, but he's got that background where he can box out smaller defenders.
I mean, that's exactly what he did against Florida State on the game winner.
He just used his size to go up there up high where the cookie jars where the kids can't get it.
And he made the play.
I mean, that's exactly what you want.
You want that reliability.
And the cool thing about Jolie right now is he doesn't have to come in and be something spectacular right away.
There's Evan Ingram in front of him who plays the same exact role as that F type.
He can learn a lot from Evan Ingram.
And obviously, we'll dive deep in some of the things we saw from mandatory minicamp and OTAs with Justin Jolie.
even dating back to rookie minicamp.
There are some things that obviously have stood out about him.
We'll also go through how he will impact Denver's tight end room
and what that could look like here on today's episode,
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How will Justin Joe Lee affect and impact the Denver Broncos current tight end room?
A lot of veterans up ahead of him.
A lot of guys with experience in Sean Payton's offense ahead of him.
But the Broncos clearly believe in his talent.
We'll see how much he's going to get involved this year.
We're going to talk about it on today's episode of the show.
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Let's talk about Justin Jolie impacting the Broncos tight end room, Cody, because you mentioned it,
Evan Ingram, obviously last year and Adam Trotman last year,
underwhelming as receivers or as past catching options,
at least as far as how the Broncos use them.
I think that's where I get confused a little bit in terms of where my heart is telling me
things are going to go with the tight end room this year,
where my head is telling me where things are going to go this year with the tight end room.
Let's first start with what we saw at OTAs.
What did you see out there to give us any sort of indication?
of how much Justin Jolie is going to impact this room in 2026.
Yeah, right now it just seems like the Broncos, their focus, at least at this position,
and they're going to rotate guys at other positions.
But I think for them specifically here, I feel like there is going to be an emphasis
going into training camp as to mixing and matching,
getting guys like Justin Jolie and Evan Ingram on-field snaps together,
getting guys like Adam Troutman and Jolie on-field snaps together.
The Broncos, they want to bring these rookies along,
including Dalland Bentley, who we'll talk about here,
and just a little bit in a few episodes down the road from now.
But the thing with Jolie is the way that they're using him is kind of this move around piece,
kind of what we saw a little bit at NC State.
And they're lining him up almost exactly how we saw at NC State,
where he's right behind the offensive tackle or in between the tackle and the guard underneath.
And he's either leaking out to the flat or he's coming back underneath the formation and making plays.
I'll go back to even rookie minicamp.
One of the very first plays that we saw from Jolie and some seven on seven was
quarterback threw a pass that was a little too high and up to the outside.
He went up with one hand and snagged it.
And once again, if you go back and you watch his tape at NC State,
there's times where his quarterback is throwing a pass maybe a little too far inside.
He's reaching with one hand and he's going through and he's corraling it and he's bringing it in.
So the focus is there.
The want to is there.
You know, the weird thing about it was, okay, early on in OTAs,
we saw him being used like this.
Mandatory minicamp, I don't know.
what it was, but we didn't see as much of an emphasis on them throwing him the football,
them going to him actively there.
So they're going through the whole process right now.
And it's so hard.
And I'd say this is probably one of those positions.
It's hard to evaluate until the pads come on because they're going out there every day.
And they're hitting these handshields, Sarah.
And that's one of the biggest gripes that I have with everything.
I know players do as well.
These handshields, they don't simulate a real blocker because if you're going to try to
block somebody, you've got someone who's clubbing,
swimming, trying to fight through your arms, these handshields, when you're going up and you're blocking them,
it's not like it's giving you resistance. You're actually pushing the handshield in. It doesn't give you a real
accurate measure as to where your hand placement should go and what that contact really feels like.
Because once again, you can't go in, make contact with that bag and you can't hold on to the bag inside the frame because there's no grip on the bag.
It's just something that you push. So that's the challenging part right now for the O line and the tight ends.
but I do think that there is going to be a little bit of an emphasis early on.
I think with them focusing on all these guys blocking primarily,
especially as they want to get this run game going.
They want to fix it from where it was at last year.
That will be an emphasis,
but it cannot be at the expense of using these guys in the passing game
and doing some of the things that they're very good at.
Right.
That's what Justin was ultimately drafted for, right?
I mean, that's where the Broncos picked him up is because they believe he can be a threat
in the passing game.
Not only did they draft him, I mean, they traded up to draft him.
So that's another important little wrinkle to consider here.
But how he impacts the tight end room to me, Cody, is I think that even, even though he's a rookie, even though he's a fifth round pick, I still think the skill set that he brings to the table and the sort of like, I don't want to call it a niche, but like kind of the the past catching specialist that he really is.
Not to say that he can't block because you mentioned he can, but he was drafted to catch passes.
one of the most productive receiving options at tight end in this year's draft,
I think that does send a message to the rest of your tight end room to say,
hey,
it wasn't good enough last year.
Evan,
you had the highest drop percentage of your entire career,
despite playing the lowest percentage of snaps of your entire career.
Adam,
it wasn't good enough.
Like,
we didn't get enough from you.
I don't,
I guess I don't really care if it was enough targets or if it was enough opportunities.
Like,
there just wasn't enough production.
And regardless,
regardless of how we slice it, if it's Sean Payton's fault,
if it's whoever's fault, the tight ends fault.
Like Bo Nix didn't trust those guys enough to look their way
as many times as he probably could have.
And so to me, I think like if I'm taking a bit of a harsher stance on this,
how he impacts the tight end room,
you add a player who's one of the better receiving options at tight end in this draft class.
It sends a huge message to your veterans in this group to say,
what you guys did last year isn't good enough.
And so I think that Justin's presence can bring all those other guys up in terms of what they can do this season.
And I hope that there is kind of that onus on the players, you know, themselves say, hey, like, you know,
how can we impact the game a lot more?
I mean, I understand, especially when you're playing certain pass rushers that you may live in 12 and 13 personnel in some of those games against some of the leagues better pass rush guys.
And obviously, Denver's going to experience that, I think, a little early on week three against the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday night football.
you're going to get that twice a year when you play Max Crosby.
What is that going to look like?
Well, we'll see what the chargers obviously look like as, you know,
Khalil Mack returns.
They got twoy, twoy, below two.
And then they have other guys as well.
They obviously drafted a first round pass rusher.
But the thing is, is you can counteract those things in other ways without taking an element
of your game way.
I felt like last year when Denver was facing a really good pass rusher,
hey, we're going to put two tight ends next to whatever offensive tackle is going
that, you know, up against a Miles Gera or a.
Max Crosby, whoever it may be, and we're having them sit there and chip and then release
versus saying, you know what, like we need to trust that our offensive attack, we could chip,
but there's going to be times where that guy's got to win one-on-one.
He's got to get the better of that rep.
And we cannot let that dictate what we decide to do offensively.
And I felt like last year, especially in the run game, certain fronts came out and all
of a sudden it dictated whether Denver was going to throw or Denver was going to run.
And to the point where Denver was abandoning the run, even though you were getting stacked boxes,
I understand that.
You can't let a defense bully you into just being one-sided.
And I'm curious to see how Davis Webb maybe changes that with this new modernization of
Sean's offense, what new wrinkles he could add here and there.
And philosophically, how involved these guys actually do get in the passing game because
just simply wasn't good enough.
Like for Evan to be the third leading target guy, but not playing nearly as much snaps like
that to me was very telling for Adam Troutman to have all the offensive snaps really
60 plus percent at tight end and only having 23 targets and 20 catches.
I mean, that's not a high utilization, right, despite how many snaps he's playing on the field.
Yes, he can be good at blocking, but you need a guy who can do a little bit of both.
Justin Jolie is that guy, and that sets the stage perfectly for us to predict Justin Jolie's usage
and his production going into his rookie season.
Even if he's not a starter, even if he's a role player, what are the numbers?
Sarah and I are going to share our thoughts here on today's episode, Lockdown Broncos.
Justin Jolie finds himself behind guys like Adam Troutman and Evan Ingram,
but he has the best opportunity to also see snaps this upcoming season
at the tight end position compared to some other guys here on the roster.
We'll go through and predict his rookie stats in production and his usage here on today's episode.
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Sarah, let's get into this.
As we go through and kind of predict numbers and maybe usage percentages, it's always
difficult when we talk about guys who were drafted in the later rounds.
Fifth round, I would even say sometimes it's even hard to do that with third round guys.
But considering that Justin Jolie is coming into a tight-in room where Adam Trotman
last year's played 60 plus percent of the snaps, Evan Ingram played 42 percent,
which was a career low.
And then you have guys like Nate Atkins who missed a lot of time due to injuries.
What is a realistic outlook on a percentage of snaps that we think Justin Jolie could play as a rookie,
even if he's not going to be a starter?
Well, I think it's realistic for him to be the third tight end on the depth chart, Cody.
I do.
And I think that that's one of those things.
It's like, well, yeah, that seems easy enough to predict.
But really, when you look at it, I think the season that you have to look back to is actually
2024, right? When Nate Adkins played 420 snaps, he was pretty much fully healthy that season.
Lucas Crowell also pretty much fully healthy that season. He played 299 snaps. And then before he got
cut, Greg Dulcich actually played 120 snaps for the team as well. So you kind of divvy those up
right there. You look at that with Troutman playing, you know, roughly 52%, 574 snaps. Nate
Adkins playing 38%. I could see Justin Jolie landing in that 200,000.
250 to 300 snap range, which Lucas Crowell played back at 2024, which ended up being about
27 percent, right? So all those numbers to say that I think, and I think Justin can have a much
bigger impact. I mean, think back to the 2024 season. I think you and I agree there was like
the Carolina game and the Atlanta game where the two, the tight ends really stood out in terms
of their production. It was like National Tightens Day and one other game throughout the course of
the season with a couple of other plays sprinkled in here and there.
It's, you know, I guess unfortunate that kind of the same thing happened last year,
where, you know, Evan Ingram played really great against the Philadelphia Eagles and
the Washington commanders.
And then it was just kind of sprinkled in here and there with the other guys.
I just don't like that.
I think that there has to be a more concerted effort to get these guys involved.
And if Lucas Crowell can play 300 snaps in a season, we know Lucas is not necessarily going
to go out there and block.
He's not Mercedes Lewis and his prime.
He's not Grunkowski, right?
Although some would have you believe he might be the best player on the team.
But I think that there is that element of Justin's game where you want him on the field
to affect games.
Like you said, teams are stack in the box.
You're out there in 12, 13 personnel.
All of a sudden, Justin Jolie's athleticism is burning those linebackers up the
seam of the field.
And you can find ways to create balance.
That's why I think he has to do.
but Titan 3 to me is the floor for Justin Jolie this year.
And he has to play special teams too, which, I mean, you can get very creative.
If you want to find a way to get him the football, let's say it's a, you know, a trick play.
We haven't seen too many of those from Darren Rizzy since obviously he's taking over as the special teams coordinator.
But Justin Jolie is the type of guy.
I think you can run some trick plays with on the special team side.
If you want to go for it on fourth down, you want to have like your punter toss it to a guy.
Jolie might be that perfect outlet option right up the scene there.
or, hey, short yard in situations, he's up, let's say, as a personal protector, a direct snap,
or he can just take it and run because he's got the size, he's got the physicality to burst forward there for a few yards.
I would like that with Jolie.
That's going to have to be where he kind of makes some hay as well.
He has to embrace the special team side.
So let's get into now maybe a production, what that may look like.
If he is playing 300-something snaps in a rotational role,
I feel like in terms of overall total net yards from scrimmage,
I think a good line to start at would be 300,
75.5. You taking the over, you take the under on that.
You know, I'll take the under on that. Just because I think that it's going to be a bit more of a modest
involvement right away, right? I think that it's one of those situations that's not on the extreme
of Cage Casey, where you and I kind of agreed in our episode we did about Cage, like,
hey, he's not necessarily going to even play as a rookie. I don't think Justin Jolie is going to get put
on ice this year. I think he's going to get involved in spots. And I think that it's going to
be different to Jonah Coleman's situation where Jonah, you feel like he's going to be an integral
part of the rotation at running back where Justin, I feel like they want Evan and Troutman to be the
guys. Like I feel like they want those two guys to play the best that they're capable of playing.
And so because of that, Justin's not going to get as many snaps. He's not going to get a huge
share of targets. I will say, though, if injuries do occur, I mean,
this guy could develop trust rather quickly because of what we talked about in the first segment
of the show his strong hands.
Yeah, and that's also something else.
You know, I mean, you hope you never have to deal with injuries to that room because I
think all those guys offer something, right?
And how can Davis Webb get a little bit more out of them?
But in the event of an injury, you do get an accelerated look at this guy.
What can he do, especially with more on his play?
I think that's something that the Broncos and their coaching staff, I know early on they go
through phase one of the install during OTAs and mini camp, training camp, it's revisiting phase
one and then now it's adding phase two stuff. And by the time the regular season comes around,
it's, hey, we want to be into phase three and we're installing as the season goes, but we want
to be ahead of schedule here. And an injury can sometimes derail what that looks like where you're
at because, hey, can this guy handle this responsibility? Yet, I think a guy like Jolie with how smart
he is, his work ethic, I think he can handle a little bit more added onto his plate. You know,
Sometimes it could also be trial by fire, which wouldn't be a bad thing for him.
But let's maybe kind of flip it as well.
Like I could see him, you know, being that third tight end on the depth chart.
That's what my prediction is going to be when we get into our training camp prediction preview.
So spoiler little, Broncos country, you heard mine here on Jolie.
But what I also will say is even if he doesn't have, let's say, 375 plus yards,
could he maybe be used at times in the red zone where would it be a shock if he has three or four
touchdowns this season if used in one of those types of roles?
It would not come as a surprise to me if that's how they start to unleash him periodically
is red zone, goal line situations.
You know, I think they'll bring him in to block, especially as that kind of wing and F-type
tight end.
And I think you're going to see some creativity from the offense where he's going to block
for the first maybe 10 reps in that kind of package.
And then he's going to leak out for a route for a touchdown.
You're going to hear it first.
And hopefully we can revisit this September, October, November, maybe even December.
We talked about this all the way, obviously, in the month of July.
Well, Cody, looking back at, I was looking at Nate Adkins' numbers from the first couple years of his career.
In 2024, he only had 15 targets, but he caught 14 of those and he had three touchdowns.
So to your point about Justin having more touchdowns, maybe fewer catches, that's something that the Broncos have done before.
Like, they've gotten these guys involved to that degree and they're willing to throw it to whoever.
it gets into the like like they don't they don't care about your fantasy team they don't care about
any of that stuff they will throw it to frank crumb you know they'll throw to anybody in the red zone
they'll design place for anybody in the red zone so like i wouldn't even say hey justin could be
an outlet in the red zone and and just happened to catch three touchdowns this year i would say like
i wouldn't be shocked if they designed place for him they trade it up to get this guy like
There's something there to that.
And I know that that doesn't always mean, like,
well, especially for a day three pick,
hey, he's going to come in and be a starter or anything.
But what I do think that means is that this team believes very much so in his
skill set.
And up to the point that they were like,
got to have him.
So we got to go get it.
Right.
And so I think that that does mean we're going to see a concerted effort to get him
involved,
to get him those reps.
I don't think it's going to be on the Q Robinson Savion Jones spectrum, Cody.
but I could see it being more in line with kind of, I mean, right underneath, if I had to project,
like, who's going to be the most involved rookies from this year's class offensively?
I think Jonah Coleman is kind of in a tier of his own.
And then I think Justin is like somewhere in the middle tier.
And then you got like the Cage Casey's who may not play this season.
So I think just right in the middle, like pick your spots, take advantage of your opportunities.
Yeah.
And I think he will.
And I'm curious to see what opportunities do.
come along for Justin.
Obviously, when we're out there at training camp,
he's going to be one of those guys we watch every day.
We're going to be keeping our eye on number 80.
Can you make some plays when the pads come on?
That's where we're really excited about the evaluation is.
And when the pads come on, now it makes everything a little bit more clear.
Now you're getting a true evaluation on past protection.
You're getting a true evaluation on the pressure and the pass rush and what that looks like.
What we saw in OTAs without it, you know, was that more simulated because there is no
contact allowed?
These are things that we're all going to get answers on.
when the pads come on here later on in the month of July.
Rookies report for training camp on July 22nd.
We'll obviously be at every training camp practice as well.
I'll recap for you here, locked on Broncos.
But with that said, that'll wrap up today's episode preview of Justin Jolie.
Tomorrow's episode, Broncos Country.
We are taking a look at Miles Scott,
the wide receiver converted to safety where he made incredible strides
in just three seasons after making the position switch.
And what he could do as a rookie for this Broncos team in 2026.
