It did not take lengthy for Greg Dulcich to make an impression on the professional stage.

The previous UCLA soccer tight finish reeled in his first profession landing on ESPN’s “Monday Evening Soccer” towards the Los Angeles Chargers. The Denver Broncos rookie was beforehand on injured reserve and missed the primary 5 video games of the season with a hamstring concern, however instantly turned one in every of quarterback Russell Wilson’s favourite targets in his first little bit of official recreation motion.

Dulcich’s debut happened at SoFi Stadium – lower than 13 miles away from Westwood and 20 miles away from his hometown of Glendale, California – and former UCLA quarterback Troy Aikman simply so occurred to be the colour commentator for ESPN’s broadcast. It was nonetheless a street recreation for the tight finish, although, dividing the gang when he torched Denver’s secondary for an enormous scoring play early on.

With the Broncos marching previous midfield, already up 3-0 within the first quarter, Dulcich lined up on the fitting and ran a seam up the sideline. The Chargers let him slip behind the second stage, and Wilson stepped up within the pocket and lobbed one to a large open Dulcich to make them pay for it.

Dulcich caught the ball on the 15 and beat Professional Bowl cornerback JC Jackson in a footrace to the entrance proper nook of the top zone for six.

That wasn’t even Dulcich’s first catch of the drive, both, as he made a 5-yard seize to assist Denver convert on Third-and-4 on the opening set of downs. That catch ultimately led to a 37-yard reception by Jerry Jeudy, which was instantly adopted up by Dulcich’s 39-yard landing.

The Broncos had struggled to place up factors by 5 weeks, when Dulcich was recovering from his harm. Denver was averaging 15 factors per recreation getting into Monday evening, with just one recreation over 16 factors and none over 23.

Albert Okwuegbunam got here into the season because the de facto No. 1 tight finish, however he performed simply 16 snaps throughout the Broncos’ final two video games. Eric Saubert has the slight edge over Okwuegbunam by way of season numbers with one landing to his title, however the two had been combining to common a mere 26.6 yards on 2.8 catches per recreation.

Dulcich got here in and greater than matched these numbers instantly, taking two catches for 44 yards and a landing within the first half alone Monday evening. The rookie additionally had a goal in the long run zone proper earlier than halftime, but it surely bought damaged up in visitors.

With the sport tied late, Dulcich was taking part in practically each snap and operating routes out of the slot. Though the Broncos nonetheless failed to completely break by with an enormous evening on offense, Dulcich was a minimum of taking part in a significant half in making the operation run barely extra easily.

Denver is presently tied with Los Angeles 16-16 on the finish of regulation.

Throughout 4 seasons at UCLA, Dulcich went from walk-on receiver to all-conference tight finish and Mackey Award contender. The 6-foot-3, 245-pound tight finish first contributed as a backup in 2019, then actually took over in 2020 as soon as Caleb Wilson and Devin Asiasi had each turned professional.

Dulcich racked up 517 yards and 5 touchdowns on 26 catches in seven video games in 2020, making the All-Pac-12 Second Crew in consequence. Returning for his redshirt junior 12 months in 2021, Dulcich actually broke out with 725 yards and 5 touchdowns on 42 catches.

The tight finish ranked second on the workforce in targets, receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns, and he wound up making All-Pac-12 First Crew by season’s finish. Dulcich made appearances on the Reese’s Senior Bowl and NFL Scouting Mix over the winter, boosting his draft inventory within the course of.

The Broncos chosen Dulcich with the No. 80 general decide within the third spherical of the 2022 NFL Draft, making him the highest-drafted UCLA tight finish since Marcedes Lewis in 2006.

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