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ENGLEWOOD, Colo. —** Virgil Green has taken quickly to the Broncos' new offense, at least with the broad strokes, but knowledge is power and he's looking to gain the finer points with the help of Owen Daniels.
"I ask him questions all the time. He's probably going to get sick of me because just the little details about things," Green said with a chuckle.
As Daniels begins his 10th year with Head Coach Gary Kubiak, he brings a wealth of knowledge of the offense from which Green is hoping to glean valuable details to add to his working understanding of the offense.
"I understand the plays but trying to understand the details about running routes, when to do certain things that gets a defender are questions that I ask him," Green said. "And he's more than willing to help. He's a great vet. All the tight ends—and I'm pretty sure a lot of the guys on the team in general—look up to him and his veteran leadership."
Tight ends are essential to the new offense not only with the blocking scheme but with the reliance of a pass-run playcall mixture to keep defenses on their toes, especially with play-action, as Kubiak detailed last week: "It's hard to get the ball down field and make big plays. You've got to make them to be successful, so we felt like if we run the ball well and we play pass, and it looked the same, we'll be able to get the ball down the field."
That mix of run and pass is something that Green is eagerly waiting for, too, because he doesn't want to just be known for his blocking. He caught his first career touchdown pass last season against the Raiders and when he re-signed with the team in March he said, "I just want to be efficient and a guy that teams just don't have to say 'Oh, well, he's in—they're running.' I want to be a guy that teams say 'He's versatile, he can do all things, he can line up at fullback, slot receiver, tight end and be efficient at all those positions.'"
He added that so far in OTAs the tight ends are certainly getting that kind of work in to ensure that.
"We've been catching a lot of passes out there—all the tight ends, really. I think the way it complements each other is a lot of the plays look the same when we're coming off the ball and if it happens to be a run, that's what it is; if it happens to be a pass, that's what it is—but it's tough for defenses to hone in on things like that."
Broncos tight end Virgil Green signs his new three-year deal and meets with the media
There's competition at tight end, too, with Daniels and Green joined by Marcel Jensen, James Casey, Dominique Jones and Joe Don Duncan. But Green says they're all aware of how competition can't play into their mindset and that they'll have to focus on what they do rather than what their teammates do as they compete and work together.
However, competition aside, Green is trying to get a complete understanding of the offense under his feet in these stages of the offseason program so he can hit all the notes he needs to when the season arrives in a few months.
"I'm very comfortable. I understand how things are supposed to be. Like I said, it's just understanding the little details about things and we have time to get those things down."