ENGLEWOOD – A true-blue approach made Trey McBride a lot of green.

The Fort Morgan product reset the market for tight ends in April when he signed a four-year contract extension with the Cardinals worth $76 million over four years. That topped Travis Kelce’s annual salary and George Kittle’s total contract as the position’s most lucrative deal.

“When you can play that low and have that speed, that athleticism you’re going to be really hard to cover and really hard to tackle,” Broncos tight end Evan Engram said after Thursday’s joint practice with the Cardinals at Broncos Park

“I definitely think he’s the future of the position. The payday he got says that as well. (I’m) super impressed with him.”

That kind of coin is not bad for a kid from a town of roughly 12,000 people on Colorado’s eastern plains. Somehow, Fort Morgan High School has produced two other NFL players in the last 20 years. Joel Dressen, another tight end who played at Colorado State, paved the path after being drafted by the Jets in the sixth round of the 2005 NFL Draft. Then came center Ryan Jensen who was drafted in the sixth round in 2013 after playing at CSU-Pueblo. McBride became the third Mustang to make it to the NFL when the Cardinals drafted the Mackey Award winner out of Colorado State with a second-round selection in 2022.

“I just think it’s the grit, the hard work, the everything that comes with Fort Morgan,” McBride said of the town’s ability to churn out talent. “It’s just a small (town), hometown pride. But most importantly, man, everyone works hard, and it’s a blue-collar town, so, you know, hard work gets you where you want to go.”

Jensen won a Super Bowl in 2021 and made the Pro Bowl in 2022, but McBride is on track to have the best and highest paid career of the bunch. After catching 111 passes for 1,146 yards and a couple of touchdowns, McBride made his first Pro Bowl squad last season.

“He means a lot to us,” Cardinals coach Jonathan Gannon said. “He does things the right way. He’s a true pro’s pro.”

There’s talk of him being the best in a loaded crop of NFL tight ends, but that’s not of much concern ahead of his fourth NFL season.

“It doesn’t matter to me. Obviously, I think I’m a great tight end, and I think for what we do in this offense, I do a good job. But things like that, there’s a lot of great tight ends in this league, and, you know, just to be considered one of the top is a huge honor to me,” McBride said.

“I grew up watching so many of these guys, so just to be in the same conversation as them is is a huge honor.”

If Thursday’s practice was any indication, McBride’s in for a big fourth season. He was Kyler Murray’s favorite target for much of the joint practice and hauled in a touchdown against Denver’s stingy defense. He earned the sought-after “Joker” label from Broncos coach Sean Payton afterward.

“Those guys are really a quarterback’s friend,” Payton said of the versatile, pass-catching tight ends and running backs like McBride.

“When you get one – they’re hard to find – they’re valuable.”

Those who find themselves in Fort Morgan can check out some of the town’s top attractions on TripAdvisor – a bridge, a museum, a winery and a gravel mine. That might not be the most thrilling of options for a young man, but it worked out well for McBride. Now, the 25-year-old has the means to call anywhere else home, not that he would.

“Way out east, you know, small little town, everybody knew everybody, but I loved it, man,” McBride said. “I wouldn’t change it for the world.”