The Denver Broncos signed veteran tight end Marcedes Lewis to their practice squad on Wednesday, looking to solve the team’s need to bulk up at the position.
Coming into the day, the Broncos were down to two healthy players at the position. Lucas Krull will miss the next several weeks following foot surgery after being sidelined for the last four games due to an injury suffered in practice, and Nate Adkins suffered an apparent non-contact knee injury Sunday.
And given that their two practice-squad tight ends are converted players from other sports — basketball and Australian football — the Broncos had limited options. They placed waiver claims on two tight ends on Monday; they lost out on both to teams with higher waiver priorities, thus leading to the Lewis tryout.
The trade deadline isn’t until Nov. 4; the Broncos are a candidate to bolster the tight-end room there.
But at the same time, the pickings may not be incredibly robust; even a rumored potential target, Cleveland’s David Njoku, has averaged 7.9 and 9.6 yards per reception the last two seasons, respectively; that’s in line with what the Broncos are getting from nine-year veteran Evan Engram, who has an 8.3-yards-per-reception average this season, logging 215 yards on 26 catches.
It’s a similar tale for another rumored trade target, Minnesota’s T.J. Hockenson, who has 8.2 yards per catch this season. For both Hockenson and Njoku, the salad days are just two years in the rear-view mirror; Hockenson came within 40 yards of 1,000 in 2023; Njoku had career highs in receptions (81) and yards (882) that year.
Such production is long in the past for Lewis; he logged 11 receptions in his last 51 regular-season games over the 2022, 2023 and 2024 seasons. He’s been mostly a blocking tight end for several years now. Lewis is already the oldest tight end to play a game in NFL history; if Denver signs him, he’d become the oldest active player in Broncos history. Beyond that, if elevated to the team for a game, he’d actually become the first player in NFL history at the tight end position to play a game at age 41.
This is where the Broncos stand today at tight end: in desperate need of reinforcements to support Engram and the sturdy Adam Trautman. Wringing the last drops from Lewis might be the best option, at least for one week.
Lewis was selected in the first round of the 2006 draft by the Jaguars, where he spent 12 years. Then he spent another seven seasons with the Packers and Bears. Broncos second-year player Troy Franklin was three years and a few months old when Lewis made his NFL debut.