Greg Dulcich is hard to miss on the field.
Unfortunately for him and the Broncos, he’s been missing far too often over his first two years in the NFL.
The third-year tight end appeared in only two games last year and didn’t finish either. That after missing much of training camp and two stretches totaling 10 games as a rookie. All because of a right hamstring — and following foot injury — that just has not stayed healthy.
Dulcich, though, is back on the field at the outset of training camp and has wasted little time reminding observers why he can be an impact player if he’s on the field. If he can just, at long last, stay healthy.
Like in a Saturday red zone drill, where he hauled in a touchdown in the back corner of the end zone on a pretty throw from Bo Nix.
“Each day you’re seeing a glimpse and you are seeing plays,” head coach Sean Payton said. “Most importantly for the player, you’re seeing his confidence. … That’s really player growth. You can’t wish for that. It can’t be false confidence. It’s generally earned and it’s from accomplishing something. I think we’re seeing that with Greg.”
If you think coaches, teammates and fans are relieved to see him making those strides, imagine how he felt in the leadup to returning this week.
“I was so stoked,” he said Friday. “I couldn’t wait to get back out there. Just so grateful and so grateful to be a part of this team and this organization and I’m so happy to be back.”
It’s been a long time coming.
Dulcich spent his two stints on injured reserve last year seeing specialists and trying to figure out how to finally put a recurrence of hamstring injuries behind him. Just when he started practicing again late in the season, a foot injury popped up that ended up keeping him off the field and requiring early offseason surgery.
“It was definitely a long road,” Dulcich said. “I had to figure out exactly what we needed to do with the foot and we were finally able to figure it out. Like I said, (the Broncos staff) put together an awesome program there for me to not only get me stronger than I was but to build volume at that strength and to prepare me for camp.”
Dulcich has been working on not only strengthening his hamstring but also trying to re-wire the way he runs — at least to an extent. He and the Broncos are focused on eccentric loading of the hamstring muscle — essentially, movements that put tension on the muscle while it’s lengthening rather than shortening. Think extension rather than curls.
“Whenever you’re dealing with injuries, you’re trying to restore some symmetry to strength and gait,” Dr. Kenton Fibel, a primary care sports medicine specialist at Cedars-Sinai Kerlan-Jobe Institute in Los Angeles and the Anaheim Ducks’ medical director, told The Post. “Not always easy to do, but that makes it so hopefully you’re not going to overload some muscle groups more than others, whether it’s quadriceps versus posterior chain and hamstring and then obviously left and right leg. So trying to restore strength in any kind of strength and gait training.”
Dulcich has become quite familiar with such training.
“We’ve got a few different pieces of equipment that can measure our force output and help maintain symmetry on both sides as well as just continually strengthening it and adding the volume of running and heavier weights and all that stuff,” the 2022 third-round draft pick said. “So the combination of all that stuff along with mobility exercise, hip mobility is big and I feel like I’ve got a good routine down.
“The training and strength staff really just knocked it out of the park.”
Fibel said eccentric training is, “largely shown to be the most effective for muscle and tendon injuries, not just for recovery but also for prevention.”
Dulcich has also been focused on two elements of his running gait as well: Striking the ground with better alignment under his hip and closer to the middle of his foot rather than on his toes. He says it’s been a lot of work but perhaps not the full overhaul it may sound like.
“It’s a lot of the same kind of sprint mechanics that you do in college and the same type of drilling,” Dulcich said, “but I guess just kind of focusing on it a little bit more and being a lot more intentional.”
Fibel said plans don’t usually involve immediately trying to adjust how somebody runs except in a very minor way. It’s typically something that happens more if an athlete has recurring injuries like Dulcich has.
“When you do have these recurring instances you try to do whatever it takes and think outside the box a little bit in terms of prevention and how can we alter the future so this isn’t recurring?” he said. “ … Sometimes you look at, is there a reason they might be more predisposed? Is it just their genetics? Is it because they’re getting it at certain times because they’re earlier in their training and fatigue injuries? Is it having to do with their hydration status? Is it having to do with anything dietary? Stretching, strengthening, weight training? Their running mechanics? You really look at things from a full head-to-toe, whole-body of an athlete to see what you can do to hopefully prevent the next injury.”
A year ago, Payton talked about Dulcich like he could be a “joker,” or a versatile, multi-use weapon who can stress defenses. For a few weeks in 2022, the field-stretcher looked like one of the most promising young tight ends in football. If he stays healthy, perhaps that is still in his future.
For now, though, Dulcich isn’t thinking about any of that.
“I mean, right now it’s pretty early on,” he said. “We’re just kind of getting the fundamentals down and just playing ball again.”
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