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Early in Broncos training camp, head coach Vic Fangio said that tight end Jake Butt had hit a “little pothole” in his recovery from a third torn ACL but that he could be back on the practice field any day.

It’s been more than a week since Fangio shared that assessment and Butt has yet to resume football activities. Given the number of times Butt has suffered the injury and the short list of players who have come back under similar circumstances, no one would be surprised if this wound up being the end of the line.

Butt called this recovery process “the hardest thing I’ve ever had to go through in my life” mentally, but he remains steadfast about his ability to get back into the Broncos lineup.

“Right now I feel like I’m being tested and being thrown into the fire a little bit,” Butt said, via Nicki Jhabvala of TheAthletic.com. “To me, it just proves how much the game means to me. It almost broke me a couple of times. It would break 99 percent of other people. But I love this game, I’m committed to it and, yeah, there are dark days, but I’m still here at 7 every morning, still trying to work and get back. And I will get back. It’s just taking a little bit of time.”

Butt said the knee is structurally OK and that the soreness that sent him back to the sideline has gotten better recently, but there’s still no timeline for returning to action. The longer that remains the case, the harder it will be to believe that Butt will be in uniform come the start of the season.