Denver, CO
Finding Broncos: Oregon TE Could Be the Mismatch Weapon Payton Covets
As the 2025 NFL draft approaches, the Denver Broncos are looking for that mismatch tight end, or that ‘joker,’ that Sean Payton covets. Payton has worked with some of the best tight ends throughout his years as a head coach and offensive coordinator.
Payton was with the New York Giants when they drafted Jeremy Shockey, who also played for Payton with the New Orleans Saints. The veteran coach was also with the Dallas Cowboys when they drafted Jason Witten and with the Saints when Jimmy Graham was plucked out of the draft.
This draft class has a strong class of tight ends entering the NFL, and the Broncos have been looking hard at the group. The Broncos may be unable to obtain one of the top tight ends in the class, but it’s a deep group, and they can get a high-quality player somewhere on Day 2 of the draft.
With that in mind, let’s start finding some Broncos, starting with one tight end with local ties to Colorado and a history with Bo Nix — Oregon’s Terrance Ferguson.
Ferguson turned 22 at the beginning of February. He’s from Littleton, CO, where he attended Heritage High School.
Despite growing up in Colorado, Ferguson admitted at the NFL Combine that he grew up liking the Saints because of Payton. He spent all four of his collegiate seasons at Oregon, playing with Nix for two of them.
Ferguson’s size and athleticism meet the standards you look for in a tight end. He has length but could use some work in the weight room to add a bit more bulk to his frame, but you don’t want to hinder his athleticism.
He displayed explosive athleticism at the Combine, which is what you’re looking at him for.
Among 45 draft-eligible tight ends with at least 35 targets, Ferguson had the highest yards after the catch metric at nine yards per reception and ranked fourth in overall yards after the catch, according to Pro Football Focus.
Ferguson is a good athlete for the position, who can create mismatches with modern NFL linebackers and safeties. He has the speed and explosive athleticism to break from linebackers, with the size to handle safeties.
Sometimes, the production may not match the tape, but that isn’t the case with Ferguson, who saw increased production each season in all stats except for touchdowns. In the 2022 and 2023 seasons with Nix, Ferguson had five and six touchdowns, respectively, compared to only three in 2024.
Ferguson is a quality route runner, especially for a tight end, and he shows the nuance you look for at the position. He does a good job disguising his routes with his shoulder movements and can uncork extra bursts in and out of breaks for instant separation.
When it comes to making the catch, Ferguson is clean and reliable. He only has seven drops in his career, with four coming this last season.
Ferguson’s size helps him box out from contested catches when necessary, but that doesn’t come naturally. His catch radius is excellent, and he has the body control to extend to make difficult catches while sustaining momentum, which helps when making a play with the ball in his hands.
While there’s work to be done as a blocker, Ferguson has a good foundation with his hand technique and footwork. When it comes to tight-end blocking, a lot is placed where the thumbs point.
You want them pointing up, and Ferguson consistently sets his hands. His good balance and footwork help him stay in front of his assignment.
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Ferguson’s issues center on blocking. While he has the proper base and balance, he has a bad habit of throwing himself off balance by leaning his shoulders ahead of his toes into blocks. This allows him to execute certain disengaging moves with ease.
Ferguson isn’t the most aggressive blocker, and that shows when you watch his tape. He can be passive during blocks and seems to settle more on being in the way than winning them. You can teach the technical aspects of blocking, but you want the player to have the proper mindset, which is what will be questioned the most with Ferguson.
On the receiving side, he can be a plodder through his routes. The Combine showed improvements in his smooth movements during drills, but the environment and not having pads on could have boosted that. So, it will need to be seen whether it can carry over to work in pads.
There has been success after the catch with Ferguson, but the speed of the NFL game may create some issues here. He isn’t the quickest of players, and not running the short shuttle or 3-cone at the Combine didn’t provide answers. Those issues can make defenders miss, especially if he can get into space.
Then there is Ferguson’s size and ability to box out defenders. As mentioned, he can do it, but it doesn’t come naturally. It also wasn’t something you saw a lot in college. Throughout his career, he only caught 8-of-22 contested catches, with 3-of-12 in 2024.
Ferguson would be a great addition to the Broncos. He would be the mismatch player Payton covets, and his familiarity with Nix could help his transition to the NFL.
Sure, Ferguson’s blocking is a concern, as Denver also needs improvements there, but GM George Paton spoke on his belief that it’s easier to teach a receiving tight end to block than the other way around. There’s an immediate avenue to seeing the field as a rookie, even though the impact rookie tight ends make, historically, is minimal.
Grade: Round 3
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Denver, CO
Even without extension talks, Nikola Jokic has reiterated his desire to stay long-term in Denver
Despite the possibility of Nikola Jokic holding off on extension talks for now, per The Stein Line, Jokic has reiterated a desire to stay long-term in Denver in recent talks, league sources told HoopsHype. If Jokic waits until next summer, he’s eligible for an additional year on an extension, which should be noted.
HoopsHype
Broncos QB Bo Nix is one of an projected four quarterbacks the Cardinals have never faced previously.
The Arizona Cardinals will take on the Denver Broncos in Week 7, facing them at State Farm Stadium. The Broncos’ starting quarterback is Bo Nix.
It will be the first time that the Cardinals face Nix in a regular-season game.
Bo Nix through 2 NFL seasons
Nix enters this third NFL season. He has led the Broncos to the playoffs twice.
He is 24-10 as a starter and 1-1 in the playoffs.
Through two seasons, he has completed 64.8% of his passes for 7,706 yards, 54 touchdowns and 23 interceptions. He has rushed for nine touchdowns in two seasons.
Nix is one of four projected starting quarterbacks the Cardinals will face for the first time ever this season. The others are:
- Jaxson Dart, New York Giants
- Tyler Shough, New Orleans Saints
- Fernando Mendoza, Las Vegas Raiders
Get more Cardinals and NFL coverage from Cards Wire’s Jess Root and others by listening to the latest on the Rise Up, See Red podcast. Subscribe on Spotify, YouTube or Apple podcasts.
If you were a single Slavic pagan in ancient times, the path to finding true love was fairly straightforward and considerably more exciting than going on a blind date. All you had to do was weave a garland of wildflowers, grab your intended by the hand, hurl yourselves over the roaring flames of a bonfire, and plunge nude into the nearest body of water.
In other words, ancient midsummer festivals of romance were fairly high stakes.
While you likely won’t find anyone risking third-degree burns or stripping nude in Boulder this weekend, chef Bo Porytko is reviving similar energy for a sprawling 10-course fine-dining experience where feast-goers can party like it’s 900 A.D.
The Midsummer Farm Dinner takes place on Sunday at Esoterra Culinary Garden, 8985 Valmont Road, Boulder. The event will bring together a collective of 10 chefs from some of Denver’s buzziest restaurants — including Molotov, Somebody People, Hearth, Odell’s Bagel, Petit Chelou, Margot, Bear Leek, La Diabla and Rougarou — for a collaborative, long-table meal built around Esoterra’s summer produce. The outdoor feast will begin with arrivals at 5 p.m., followed by dinner at 6 p.m. Tickets start at $260.
Porytko, the chef behind Denver’s Molotov restaurant, said the dinner series was inspired by his heritage.
“In Ukrainian culture, we have something called Ivana Kupala, which dates back to ancient times,” Porytko said. “Basically, it’s their midsummer festivities that also act as a mating holiday.”
Don’t worry, coupling up is not required for this event.
“Midsummer is just kind of a fun time,” Porytko said. “It was a good way to harness these weird, culty vibes that kind of suit the farm setting.”
The ancient East Slavic festival of Kupala was celebrated on the evening of June 23-24.
For guests wondering how that ancient atmosphere translates to a modern dinner on a 100-acre Boulder property, the evening starts on a hospitable note. Guests arrive for James Beard-recognized cocktails mixed by the team from Denver’s Yacht Club. From there, diners have time to explore the farm.
“The way the actual event begins is people come to the farm and get about an hour with welcome cocktails,” Porytko said. “Then you’re supposed to wander, check out the space, take in the farm, and there’s a little bit of education too.”
Attendees are asked to arrive dressed entirely in white. An LED flower wreath will be placed at each setting around a massive table built for 100 people. A maypole will be erected nearby, and a live DJ will guide the evening’s soundtrack. The music will begin to vibe with standard dinner fare before veering into unexpected territory.
“The DJ will play normal music, but then take, for example, a Kelly Clarkson song and turn down the beats per minute so she sounds like she’s speaking in Viking tones,” Porytko said, adding that the DJ will also mix in random Gregorian chants to fit the scene.
As the wine flows, the initial formality of the long table quickly disappears. Porytko said guests naturally start getting up, making friends and moving around the property after a few courses.
“After 10 courses and eight glasses of wine, people just kind of take it in whatever direction they want,” Porytko said.
To translate those festive vibes into an actual 10-course meal, the participating chefs rely on a highly democratic planning process. Justin Freeman, the executive chef of Somebody People in Denver, will help coordinate the logistics, beginning with a digital inventory of whatever Esoterra is currently pulling from the soil.
“There’s a Google Doc that we all use,” Freeman said. “We just ask the owner of Esoterra — Mark DeRespinis — what he’s growing, and then everyone signs up for what ingredients they want to cook with. We really just try to showcase what Mark has.”
Chefs look over the active list, claim the specific vegetables they want to work with and design a dish around them. Freeman then steps in to help arrange the final layout of the courses. He said the event has become an ongoing annual collaboration to give a little praise to the people who are doing all the hard work — the farmers.
The resulting menu leans heavily into hyper-seasonal creativity, starting with Porytko’s own intricate contribution.
“The idea is to highlight items from the farm,” Porytko said. “For me, I’m highlighting their beets, their Badger Flame beets.”
Porytko is preparing a guinea hen roulade cured in the juice of the Badger Flame beets and stuffed with a chocolate mint mousseline. The dish will be served with a beet mole, a gummied Badger Flame beet and traditional roasted beets.
The rest of the collective will showcase the farm’s harvest through a variety of distinct culinary styles. Freeman is serving grilled fennel with a creamy pistachio sauce, pickled celtuce and seasoned breadcrumbs. Andrew Van Stee of Hearth is contributing Moroccan pistachio carrot rolls, while Miles Odell of Odell’s Bagel is pairing dry-aged ocean trout with a coconut pea puree. Justin Fulton of Margot is preparing charred cucumbers with agretti, coconut broth and yuzu kosho, and Rema Maaliki and Harrison Porter of Bear Leek are bringing braised leeks with leek soubise, albufera and crispy leeks. The lineup also features plates from James Beard chef finalist José Avila of La Diabla, JohnDavid Wright of Rougarou and pastry work by Ali Spahr of Hearth .
The actual preparation happens entirely outdoors. The chefs arrive early in the morning to set up tables, tents and their own Japanese konro grills packed with binchotan charcoal.
“It all happens out in the field, in the middle of Mark’s gardens,” Freeman said. “We set up that morning. We’ll set up the tables, the tents, everything. Then we do all the cooking in front of everyone.”
Diners can stand right by the workspace and watch the dishes come together. For the chefs, the open-air format offers a rare chance to step away from their respective restaurant kitchens and collaborate directly with their fellows.
“For us, as chefs, we just don’t get to see each other very often, so it’s really fun and special when we do,” Porytko said. “We definitely have our own little hangout in the kitchen area with all the chefs, you know — all the weirdos in the corner.”
Freeman echoed the sentiment, noting the benefit of the format for the guests as well.
“With this one, you’re getting 10 different chefs with 10 different views all coming together under one roof,” Freeman said.
Cooking in an open field does, however, mean operating at the whim of Colorado’s summer elements. Freeman recalled a previous year when a sudden onset of mountain weather forced the culinary crew to quickly shift from grilling to structural defense.
“The first year we had a little bit of rain at the start of it,” Freeman said. “Then the wind was crazy, where we all had to come and grab the tent so it didn’t blow away.”
Hopefully, on Sunday, the weather will remain tame, but guests should prepare for whatever Mother Nature has to throw at them, just in case.
The event takes place on Sunday, with arrival at 5 p.m. and dinner at 6 p.m. The location is Esoterra Culinary Garden, 8985 Valmont Road, Boulder. Tickets start at $260 and are available through Tock.
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