Rookie tight end Justin Joly faces a roster-bubble test as Broncos close preseason

The Denver Broncos are closing in on their regular-season roster, and the tight end group includes at least one storyline on the bubble. Rookie tight end Justin Joly, a fifth-round draft selection, is among the players the team and its coaches will be weighing as the preseason draws to a close and roster decisions move to the front of the calendar.

Friday night’s preseason finale against the Minnesota Vikings is the final on-field chapter before the Broncos shift fully to final roster construction. That matters because the final preseason games often function as the last extended look for players on the margin, especially those trying to separate themselves on detail positions where the margin for error is small.

For a rookie tight end like Joly, roster-bubble conversations typically hinge on two themes: how quickly he understands the playbook and whether he can contribute in multiple phases of the offense, including reliable route execution and assignment awareness, rather than only flashing in isolated moments. Tight ends also often have to show value in situational football, where teams look for consistent fundamentals that can be trusted when the game plan tightens for the regular season.

Denver’s roster crunch also reflects the league-wide reality of the 53-man cutdown. Every team must make hard decisions about depth, role specificity, and special-teams availability. When a player is drafted in the mid-round range, the expectation is not just to be a developmental prospect, but to be able to earn a spot through performance and practical usefulness on game day, even if the player’s role is limited at first.

In that context, the Broncos’ final preseason look against Minnesota becomes more than a standalone game. It is also a scheduling marker, a late chance for players competing for final spots to make their case before the roster freeze. Coaches can only keep so many players at each position, and when the list narrows, the separation often comes from consistency across reps rather than any single highlight.

The coming days will likely clarify where Joly stands relative to other tight ends and multi-purpose players competing for snaps. If the Broncos view him as ready to carve out a role, he could be positioned for a roster spot as the team transitions from the preseason evaluation phase to a more fixed weekly routine. If he is not yet viewed as an essential part of the rotation, he could find himself caught in the difficult gap between practice squad potential and active roster utility.