Owen Daniels has a knack for TD catches around the goal line.
There is no doubt that if he survives Manning hanging him out to dry, he will catch plenty of TDs. Kubiak is the HC and the TE always gets a lot of redzone TD looks.
Daniels lacks that ability to get hit, get up, and move on like nothing happened. It's oddly common how many NFL TEs can take a huge hit and shake it off like nothing happened. Daniels is....well, he's probably normal. In a TEs world though that makes him almost not tough.
The Ravens went through some bad injuries with their talented TEs and the Texans started to have their share when he was finishing up there. I think Kubiak may be aware of this problem.
Last I looked Charles Clay was available and I don't figure he's uber expensive. To use him as an example, I think the Broncos replace Thomas with a couple TEs and not just one and hope he makes it through.
Daniels has an excellent understanding of offense and is a very good player at times. I think Kubiak is aware of his limitations though