Not Yet 'Over That Hump,' Broncos Shelve TE Greg Dulcich Until Week 5

The rookie pass-catcher can't seem to shake his hamstring issue.

Don't call it a setback. But don't call it a comeback, either. Not yet, anyway.

The hamstring injury plaguing Greg Dulcich — the issue clouding his inaugural NFL campaign — has prevented the Denver Broncos rookie tight end from getting "over that hump," according to general manager George Paton, who was forced to place Dulcich (and cornerback Michael Ojemudia) on short-term injured reserve.

“Hamstrings are strange," Paton conceded Tuesday after forming Denver's regular-season roster. "He was really close to coming back then he tweaked it. I wouldn’t call it a setback, but he just can’t get over that hump. He thinks he can probably be ready maybe in a week or two, but we don’t—and I’ve said this a number of times—we want to protect him from himself, so we’re going to do that. We’re going to take the conservative route, which we like to do with these types of injuries."

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The No. 80 pick of April's draft, Dulcich injured his hamstring amid the Broncos' offseason workout program, which sidelined the 6-foot-4, 245-pound pass-catcher throughout training camp and into the summer. He was mostly limited to individual practice drills and held out entirely from preseason play as the team opted for a safer-than-sorry approach.

"He has mentally been engaged the whole time," offensive coordinator Justin Outten assured last week. "It's just getting his body and the techniques, that’s the acclamation that we have to be patient with. He has been doing a really good job in between.”

Now, Dulcich must sit out until Week 5, and the patient Broncos are set to roll with TEs Albert Okwuegbunam, Eric Saubert, Eric Tomlinson, and Andrew Beck in the meantime.

Paton, however, vows that Dulcich will "100 percent" meet his scheduled return date: Oct. 6 — a Thursday night home contest against the Indianapolis Colts.

"He’s going to help us win a lot of football games this year. He’ll be ready after those four games are up," Paton said. "In the meantime, he’ll be training, and you guys see him working. We look forward to getting him back.”

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