ENGLEWOOD, Colo — In the most crucial game of their 2023 season, the Denver Broncos lost it in the beginning.
Following a first-play sack and fumble recovery by Denver defensive tackle D.J. Jones, the Broncos’ offense started at the New England 6-yard line, first and goal. Four plays later, they turned the ball over on downs.
The next series, the Broncos started at the New England 46. On third down, Russell Wilson’s deep pass down the left sideline to Courtland Sutton was well-covered and fell incomplete. Worse, Sutton fell backward and banged his helmet against the cold, hard ground.
Sutton would go in for a couple more plays but the concussion effects had begun to crystallize. He would not play again the rest of the season.
With the running game becoming increasingly pedestrian as the season went along, the Broncos’ offense had in turn become increasingly reliant on Sutton. His remarkably strong hands and innate ability to high-point snag the ball against defensive back competition explains why he finished tied for fourth among NFL receivers with 10 touchdowns. A lofty number despite essentially missing the final three games and finishing well back in 57th place with 59 catches and 44th with 770 yards.
For the second and third quarters in their must-win game against the Patriots, the Broncos’ offense was lost without Sutton. Wilson was sacked in five of six possessions – including each of the four possessions in the third quarter. The Broncos fell behind, 23-7 and though Wilson led a remarkable 16-point comeback in the fourth quarter to tie the game, New England hit one long, third-down pass that led to one, long-range field goal and the win.
The Broncos’ season was essentially over. No playoffs for an eighth consecutive season. One of many reasons they fell short is they didn’t have enough juice from their receiver position.
On the plus side, the group was tied for 8th in the league with 28 touchdown catches, 10 by Sutton. But they were also tied for third with 9 lost fumbles, two by Sutton in the 70-20 loss to Miami.
The Broncos ranked 26th in receptions and 24th in receiving yards, averaging just 209.8 per game.
Marvin Mims Jr. flashed deep ball in game 2 against Washington, and in game 15 against New England but he finished his rookie season with only 22 catches, albeit for an impressive 17.4 yard average. Keep in mind Mims is still only 21 years old. The Broncos may not want to stunt his growth as a receiver by bringing in a No. 2-type veteran.
Jerry Jeudy had his moments as the Broncos’ No. 2 receiver, but was either inconsistent or not in Wilson’s line of vision and finished with 54 catches for 758 yards and two touchdowns.
The next three leading receivers were running backs.
It hurt that No. 2.5 receiver Tim Patrick again suffered a season-ending injury in training camp. An ACL in 2022, an Achilles in 2023. Patrick had 50-plus catches for 730-plus receiving yards and 5-plus touchdowns in back-to-back seasons of 2020-21. That earned him a three-year, $30 million extension but after essentially drawing $20 million without playing a snap through the first two years of that deal, everyone knows he will not get that final $10 million in 2024.
The Broncos would like Patrick back – he has the type of competitive attitude (“I hate the Raiders,”) and team-first spirit that is valued in the locker and meeting rooms – but at a considerably reduced price. A release would come if the two sides can’t agree on that reduced price.
Sutton has two more non-guaranteed years of $13.5 million and $14 million left on his contract. He is expected back. The question is, will Jeudy or someone else be his lead partner? Jeudy has been in trade discussions both in March of 2023 and at the midseason trade deadline last October but all offers were rejected.
The offers may be less enticing next month as Jeudy no longer makes $2.68 million, as he did in 2023, but a guaranteed $12.987 million in 2024. Still, expect his name to swirl about in trade rumors.
"I don't care about any of that,'' Jeudy told 9NEWS after the Broncos’ final-game loss at Las Vegas on Jan. 7, when he had three catches for 79 yards and at long-last, a touchdown. "I know me, I'm a baller. And I'm going to keep on with whatever happens.''
Mims needs to improve on shaking loose from defenders within the first 5-to-10 yards of his route, but he will be counted on to perhaps double his rookie receiving production in year two.
No. 4 receiver Lil ’Jordan Humphrey, who had four touchdowns among his 19 catches and was the best blocker in the group, is a free agent.
Second-wave free agent receivers may include the Bears’ Darnell Mooney, the Bengals’ Tyler Boyd, Washington’s Curtis Samuel, the Vikings’ K.J. Osborn, the Lions’ Josh Reynolds and, if he’s released, the Cowboys’ Michael Gallup. And maybe see if the market falls on Arizona’s Marquise Brown.
In the draft, third- to fifth-round prospects may include Xavier Legette, Devontez Walker, Jermaine Burton, Anthony Gould and – don’t the Broncos have to do a deep dive on Rice’s Luke McCaffrey?
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