While the Denver Broncos have made some moves to help the tight end room, it could spell bad news for a veteran. Andrew Beck has been with the team for a few years, but his place on the roster could be in jeopardy now.
The question is: Can Beck do enough to maintain his hybrid position under a new coaching staff? Perhaps a glimpse into his career might provide an answer.
Biography
Beck was born in Tampa, Florida and attended Henry B. Plant High School. While there, the school won the state championship when Beck was a freshman and sophomore. Beck, who just turned 26 in May, went to Lonestar state for college to become a member of the Texas Longhorns.
University career
As a freshman, Beck only saw 15 shots in total, all up front, and was only targeted once. This climbed to 351 offensive snaps for his second season, where he captured eight of 16 goals for 77 yards. He saw another jump in his year from junior to 385 snaps up front and his first action in special teams with 163 snaps there.
Beck captured all four targets in 2016 for 82 yards and two touchdowns. Although he has shown he can contribute as a receiver, the block is what he was there to do. According to Focus on professional football, Beck has passed 60 votes every year as a blocker. Lei’s range was 61.2 in 2016 to 78.7 in 2015.
As a senior, Beck broke his foot in training and wore the medically red shirt in his 2017 season. Instead of jumping to the NFL with injury, Beck went back to college and had his best year. as a catcher, even though it was his second worst season as a blocker.
Beck was targeted 42 times, taking 28 for 281 yards and two touchdowns. While they weren’t huge numbers, he proved he could be a solid part of a passing attack. The block was still where he majored in college and overall it did quite well. However, his special teams game left a lot to be desired.
During his time in college, Beck also showed the ability to move up front. He has played 1,746 snaps on offense, but has seen more than 400 snaps as full-back, tight end online and in the slot.
After the 2018 season, Beck moved to the NFL.
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Draft
Beck had a chance with an invitation to the 2019 East-West Shrine game. This earned him a week of training with the NFL coaches in front of the scouts. Sadly, with 41 shots played, Beck didn’t stand out as a blocker and struggled in the game. He was targeted on three passes, taking two for 11 yards. It was a great opportunity, but it didn’t help him.
Beck didn’t get an invitation to the NFL Scouting Combine and only had his day as a pro as a last chance to show the teams what he could do. It was a great performance from Beck for his day as a pro, and he has tested exceptionally well in almost every test he does.
Unfortunately, the 3-cone drill was the only drill Beck didn’t test well enough on. He was shown enough to get a relative athletic score of 8.86, but none was enough to hear his name being called during the draft.
Professional career
In 2019, Beck was initially signed as a college free agent by the New England Patriots, who have decided to transfer him to full-time full-time. However, it wasn’t shown enough by Beck to make it to the roster, and it ended up as part of the final roster cuts.
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Denver claimed it and the next day it landed on its roster. Beck played 231 shots for the rookie Broncos in an attack that heavily used a full-back.
Beck saw 127 shots that season and played relatively well. There was enough to take a look at it next season, but a significant problem emerged.
The Broncos changed the attack coordinator from Rich Scanagrello, who used a full-back, to Pat Shurmur, who rarely did. Beck saw 67 shots in 2020 and 55 in 2021. He scored less than 60 from PFF in its first two years with its running blocking degree. In 2021 he just passed the age of 60 with a blocking vote of 62.1.
The block was supposed to be Beck’s forte, but it faltered there. He could have made up for it with special teams, but he struggled.
There have been several significant returns from opponents in which he was complicit in the incident, although this may have been due to the design of the cover by special teams coordinator Tom McMahon, who was ultimately fired after Vic Fangio. the door was shown.
Now, the Broncos have undergone a complete change with their technical staff and attacking pattern.
Outlook 2022
Offensive coach and player Nathaniel Hackett is bringing a system that will use a full-back, but that may not happen often. He will likely use a tight band or running back to create some discrepancies when he does. Beck has been doing this for the past couple of years, so it should have been good news.
Hackett must like Beck to some extent as the Broncos signed him again last spring with a one-year contract, however, the team also signed free agent Eric Tomlinson, who does exactly what Beck does up front. Tomlinson is also that tight end / full-back who blocks and plays in special teams. What adds up to being bad news for Beck is that Tomlinson does it a lot better.
While Tomlinson wouldn’t be overly expensive to cut, the Broncos would only save around $ 400,000 to go by with $ 1 million in dead money. On the other hand, cutting Beck would free up just over $ 1 million while costing $ 200,000 in dead money.
Not only is Tomlinson a pretty significant upgrade from what Beck does, it also makes more sense to keep it financially. There is a chance for Beck to enter the roster this year, but he has to greatly improve his game to the point where Tomlinson’s dead money is worth eating.
Unfortunately, Beck’s chances of accomplishing all of this are extremely low.
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