ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Ahead of the Broncos' Week 4 game against the Jaguars, Offensive Coordinator Rich Scangarello offered an assessment of Denver's 2019 first-round pick.

Through three games, tight end Noah Fant had tallied nine catches for 99 receiving yards and no touchdowns. His former Iowa teammate, meanwhile, had excelled in Detroit. T.J. Hockenson, whom the Lions drafted with the eighth-overall pick, caught six passes for 131 yards and a touchdown in Week 1.

Fant, the 20th-overall pick, had yet to turn in a breakout performance in the face of high expectations.

"Honestly, he's probably performed exactly about the what I would have expected," Scangarello said on Sept. 26. "Flashes of greatness, flashes of good and flashes of bad. I've said this a few times: I don't want to make it sound like they're same player, but it reminds me of [San Francisco 49ers TE George] Kittle. George's first year in the league, I think he led the NFL in drops. He was a liability in the run game at times. He would break the huddle and be unsure. We ask more of our tight ends than any other position outside of the quarterback. They need to know the run game, pass protection and they have to be route runners. And when they practice, that means they fatigue because they run routes and they block like a lineman. All that adds up and accumulates on a guy when he plays a lot of reps, especially when they're rookies and they're learning the league. That's the trickle-down effect, that's what happens when a guy gets loose with the ball or tries to do too much. The finer things aren't there.

"A year from now, he'll be a completely different player and you hope that he is like Kittle and he's confident and he breaks down. Could that happen next week and get better and better? Absolutely and that is the goal."

Scangarello's comments proved prescient.

In the Broncos' Week 4 loss to the Jaguars, Fant recorded the first touchdown of his career as he caught a screen pass and avoided three defenders before he broke free for a 25-yard score.

Another player, Scangarello said the following week, would have been tackled after a 10-yard gain. Fant's athleticism, though, allowed him to turn a positive gain into a touchdown.

That potential led the Broncos to keep Fant on the field as he worked through his rookie struggles.