With Peyton Manning at quarterback, the Broncos are on the hunt for a receiving tight end who can work the middle of the field. To that end they brought in Texans tight end Joel Dreessen for a visit Thursday.

Dreessen, a Fort Morgan native who played at CSU, will be entering his seventh season in the league and has spent the last five with the Texans. He has six touchdowns among his 28 receptions last season and has topped 25 catches in each of the last three years.

He spent part of the day at the Broncos’ Dove Valley complex. The Broncos have some company, however, given Dreessen has already visited the Bengals, Titans and Saints as well.

He is expected to choose between the Texans and the Broncos by Friday morning.

With Tim Tebow at quarterback in the Broncos’ option-based attack, the team’s tight ends weren’t involved in the passing game all that much — Daniel Fells led the team’s tight ends in catches with 19 last season, but had just six receptions in the Broncos’ final 10 games of the regular season combined.

The change in offense, with Manning at quarterback, will make the position a bigger part of the passing game.

Jeff Legwold: jlegwold@denverpost.com