We finally get to talk about what Michigan football did rather than what we wanted to see it do! On the second episode of Xs and Os, Jake Butt and Isaiah Hole break down what they saw from the Wolverines’ 47-14 win over Western Michigan.
Topics include:
The new-look defense and standout players on that side of the ball
Blake Corum’s big day at The Big House
Michigan losing Ronnie Bell for the season and who could step up to fill his shoes
How seriously the team needs to take Washington, especially after it lost to Montana
Cade McNamara’s quietly stellar performance
Catch it all with the Mackey Award-winning tight end and publisher of WolverinesWire right here!
It’s finally game week! And with that, WolverinesWire launches yet another weekly show, with the former Mackey Award-winning Michigan tight end Jake Butt, who co-hosts Xs and Os with Isaiah Hole.
In the first episode, Isaiah asks Jake how much the culture inside Schembechler Hall may have changed, what to expect in 2021, if Jim Harbaugh is still the answer at head coach, and Cade McNamara being a leader at quarterback.
There’s a lot to get to with the season set to start in earnest on Saturday!
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Check out all of WolverinesWire’s new video series which will run every day during the 2021 college football season:
It looks like former Michigan star and Bears TE Jake Butt is calling it a career as he was placed on the reserve/retired list on Wednesday.
It looks like former Michigan Wolverine star and Chicago Bears tight end Jake Butt is calling it a career as he was placed on the reserve/retired list on Wednesday, according to the NFL’s transaction wire.
A star at Michigan, Butt was projected to excel in the NFL, but tore his ACL during his final collegiate game and wound up getting drafted in the fifth-round of the 2017 NFL draft by the Denver Broncos. Butt battled various injuries during his professional career, including another torn ACL. He played in just eight games in four seasons.
With Butt’s retirement, Holtz, Horsted, Harrington, James, Jimmy Graham, and Cole Kmet round out the tight ends for the Bears.
Jake Butt’s football career hasn’t exactly gone smoothly.
The former Wolverines standout and Mackey Award-winning tight end tore his ACL in just his second year with the program, just as he was ascending. He came back and really started to thrive, particularly when Jim Harbaugh took over the program in 2015. Despite being a likely early-round draft pick and being mocked in the first-round, Butt returned for his senior year, where he had an incredible season, but again tore his ACL near the end of the first half of the Capital One Orange Bowl. His injury caused him to backslide all the way to the fifth-round of the draft, as he was selected by the Denver Broncos.
Just as he was getting started in Denver, again, Butt tore his ACL. But again he made a return and started looking the part, three-to-four years into his injury-plagued career. However, with his rookie contract up, it was time for a fresh start.
Per ESPN NFL insider Field Yates, Butt is headed to the Chicago Bears, where he has signed as a free agent.
The Bears have signed former Broncos TE Jake Butt.
We’ll see if Butt can stay healthy and start to be truly productive at the NFL-level. Chicago has some offensive issues of its own, having just signed Andy Dalton to be the replacement for maligned-QB Mitchell
Trubisky, but the Bears also picked former Ohio State passer Justin Fields to lead the team.
The Bears also have a plethora of tight ends on the roster, including Jimmy Graham and former Notre Dame TE Cole Kmet.
The former Michigan football legend checks in on the former Mackey Award winner after the game considering Butt’s career is mired in injury.
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Jake Butt has had an incredible journey, and one might say, the road less traveled.
It’s certainly not how he would have drawn it up. As an emerging tight end for Michigan football, Butt tore his ACL in spring ball before his sophomore season, but he came back better than ever, winning the coveted Mackey Award his senior year. However, that year ended in heartbreak, as just before halftime in the Capital One Orange Bowl, he tore his ACL again. He would have likely been an early-round pick, but with his injury, he fell all the way to the first pick in the fifth-round of the 2017 NFL Draft.
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He sat out the 2017 season, but came back poised to make an impact in 2018 — before tearing his ACL — again — in practice during a non-contact drill. The injury kept him out for the rest of that season as well as the entirety of 2019.
But now, he’s healthy and getting some playing time as a reserve for the team that drafted and believed in him. And his career trajectory is something the G.O.A.T. has paid attention to.
After the Denver Broncos and Tampa Bay Buccaneers faced off in Denver, Tom Brady checked in on the fellow Michigan alum, asking about his health and sharing some enthusiasm for seeing the fellow former Wolverine out on the field. The official Broncos Twitter account shared video of the exchange.
Butt and Brady have crossed paths twice before in Ann Arbor. Brady visited the team before the 2013 season — Butt’s freshman year — and again in 2016 when he was a senior.
“He’s super smart and little more athletic than people give him credit for,” Broncos QB Drew Lock said of TE Jake Butt.
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Broncos tight end Jake Butt has suffered three torn ACLs during his football career and lingering complications from his knee injuries limited him to just three games last season.
Butt has struggled to stay healthy but when he’s been on the field, he’s looked promising. If he can make it through training camp without another injury, Butt might be able to make Denver’s 53-man roster as a fourth tight end.
“There’s nobody in our locker room that doesn’t want to see Jake Butt succeed,” quarterback Drew Lock said Monday. “One of the best teammates that we have in this locker room. For him to push and grind through all the injuries he’s had . . . . Obviously, you can never get back to normal after a knee [injury], but he’s as close as you can possibly get after having those surgeries. The guy is playing some really good ball. He’s super smart and little more athletic than people give him credit for.”
Noah Fant, Nick Vannett and Albert Okwuegbunam are all expected to make the team and the Broncos only carried three tight ends last season. The Broncos might carry four tight ends in 2020 but Andrew Beck can also play fullback, which might give him an edge over Butt when roster cuts start.
Butt’s going to face long odds to make the team but he has a chance.
“I think Jake is way ahead of where he was last year at this time,” coach Vic Fangio said Monday. “To quote him, he feels the best he’s felt in a long, long time. I think he’s looked out there not just today but all the days he’s been out there. He had a great offseason.
“Hopefully we’ll see the real Jake Butt here this season.”
“This offseason has been a little bit weird for everybody, having to bounce around and train anywhere you can, but I’ve still been getting good work in, feel good about things and excited about playing ball again.”
A former fifth-round pick, Butt has only appeared in three games in his career, catching eight passes for 85 yards. After Denver added two tight ends to the roster this offseason, Butt will face long odds to make the team.
The Broncos drafted Albert Okwuegbunam and signed Nick Vannett earlier this year — they are both likely to make the 53-man roster. Noah Fant is a lock to make the team and Andrew Beck might have an edge over Butt because he can also play fullback.
Despite his odds, Butt appreciates that Denver hasn’t given up on him.
“The fact they’re standing by me and giving me an opportunity, it obviously means the world to me and I’m going to try and go out there and prove them right and prove myself right,” Butt told O’Halloran.
Creating something of a fantasy football situation selecting from nearly 40 Wolverines who are currently on NFL rosters to form a team.
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According to ESPN, while not all of them are actively playing, Michigan has 40 players currently in the league, bolstered by the 2020 haul with ten draft picks — though it lists Charles Woodson as active, and we’re pretty sure that’s no longer the case.
So, as our colleague over at BuckeyesWire asked, what would an NFL team look like if comprised solely of the players who graduated from one school? Naturally, a Michigan contingent had our interest piqued.
Given that there are a variety of schemes, offensively and defensively, and some players perhaps played a different position in the NFL than they did at Michigan, we came up with our starting maize and blue team in the pro ranks, taking a look at what could be if all of those who wore a winged helmet joined forces to create a Wolverines super team.
Especially with the man leading the charge under center, we’d put this team up against anybody.
Offense
There’s an obvious player to start with, and lots of solid linemen. But otherwise, Michigan is lighter than in recent years with skill position players.
Regardless, with the top choice overall — a man that many pick in the first round of their fantasy drafts — the Wolverines NFL team could be formidable.
Quarterback – Tom Brady
Photo: Isaiah Hole
The most obvious selection of the bunch is the greatest of all time.
If you have Tom Brady as your quarterback, you’ve got a chance to win it all. He’s won more rings than anybody with six in his time with the New England Patriots.
While he wasn’t as beloved during his time in Ann Arbor as much as he is now, if you’re building an NFL team out of former Michigan players, the former team captain and over-achieving sixth rounder from the 2000 NFL Draft is like getting the No. 1 pick in your fantasy league — it’s just good business.
In his career, Brady has amassed 74,571 yards in 285 games, with 541 touchdowns to just 179 interceptions.
Brady is No. 2 on the NFL’s all-time passing yards leaders list, behind Drew Brees — but literally ahead of everyone else. He’s also just behind Brees at No. 2 in passing touchdowns, just six away from the top, however.
Which tight ends will make the Broncos’ 53-man roster?
As we continue our 2020 depth chart prediction series for the Denver Broncos, today we’re going to be looking at the tight end position.
Previously, we predicted the QB and RB depth charts.
TE1: Noah Fant
Believe it or not, Fant didn’t begin last season as the team’s No. 1 tight end. After a strong rookie season, he’s a lock to serve as the primary TE in 2020.
TE2: Nick Vannett
Vannett will probably be used primarily as a blocker so he’s not an exciting player but his experience might help him beat out Albert Okwuegbunam for TE2 duties, at least initially.
TE3: Albert Okwuegbunam
Okwuegbunam will be an exciting prospect to watch because he played with quarterback Drew Lock in college. That connection could help him rise up the depth chart during the season.
The Broncos had 69 receptions from tight ends in 2019 and 40 of them came from rookie Noah Fant. Denver needs another TE to step up.
Getting back to our positional grades series, it’s now time to look back at the tight ends for the Denver Broncos for 2019.
Tight end, at least in terms of having one that can stretch the field and be an offensive threat, is something the Broncos had lacked for quite some time. That is largely why the team used its first-round pick on a tight end in 2019.
Let’s take a look at how each of the team’s tight ends graded out this past season.
Noah Fant
(Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports)
Stats
Receptions: 40
Receiving yards: 562
Touchdowns: 3
Fant got off to a slow start for the team and there were some fans already frustrated over the fact that the team traded out of the No. 10 spot where it could have drafted Devin Bush and into the No. 20 slot where Fant was selected.
Perhaps some still are.
But Fant turned it on toward the end of the season and ended up being second on the team in receptions and receiving yards. With the ball in his hands, he becomes a serious threat, quick and agile for a tight end. That is what the Broncos drafted him for.
Fant played in all 16 games and earned some great experience. The ceiling is high for him and he should be expected to be one of the team’s best offensive weapons for many years to come.
