According to Mike Klis, the Broncos have agreed to terms on a three-year, $12M deal with tight end Owen Daniels, who has spent his entire NFL career playing under Gary Kubiak. Daniels will replace Julius Thomas as Denver's starting tight end.
Complaints about Thomas concerned his injury history and blocking acumen. But Daniels tore an ACL in 2009 and suffered a broken leg in 2013. The former Badger has missed 27 regular season games over the past six seasons, and hasn't played in all 16 games since 2008.
As for his blocking, Daniels graded out significantly worse than Thomas did last year in both pass protection and run blocking. Overall, Daniels had a minus-4.8 blocking grade to Thomas's plus-0.5. But of course, Daniels will be paid less than half of the $9.2M/year that Thomas is reportedly getting from Jacksonville.
The 6-3, 245-pounder turned 32 in November. In nine seasons, Daniels has 433 catches for 5,144 yards and 33 touchdowns.