Although it’s the dawn of June, Payton sees the potential for bigger things from his second-year tight end/potential “joke.”
“He’s got unique skills and he’s got attributes in the passing game,” Payton said. “We use the term ‘jokes’ where we can get matchups. The trick sometimes is trying to predict what you’re going to get defensively, if you’re going to either get a nickel package or a base package. But man, he can run, he’s got good ball skills and he had one of his better practices today. Then you start to build on that. Now there’s setup and the players are going to play those positions. When you get into the season, you really have to more specific about who’s running which route. I think his menu is going to be long in the passing game and there’s plenty we can do in the running game.”
Could Dulcich be the Denver version of Hill or one of the stars Payton is referring to? It’s far too early to tell, but the 23-year-old’s talent has excited his veteran head coach, and that’s enough on the first day of June.