ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — What’s amazing about the return of Tim Patrick is not necessarily the physical toil he endured but that he didn’t experience a mental health crisis.
Both a productive and popular receiver for the Broncos in 2020-2021, Patrick suffered not one season-ending injury early in training camp in 2022, but season-ending injuries early in back-to-back camps of 2022-2023.
“I would say the first five hours were rough,’’ Patrick said, referring to the torn Achilles injury he suffered while taking off from the line of scrimmage in a drill last year. That followed the torn ACL while taking off after a leaping catch during a camp practice in 2022. “Probably the most down I’ve ever been. But once I talked to the doctors and talked some people close to me, it was just another challenge.
“You guys know (my) story. Nothing’s ever been easy. It’s always the hard way with me for some reason but it’s something that I embrace. And it’s just another situation to make my story that much greater.”
To review the adversity Patrick has overcome since childhood: He didn’t have it easy growing up in San Diego. His father was incarcerated for 15 years and his mom spent some time in jail, too. His paternal grandmother Ruth Patrick was his guardian between bouncing from one step-parent living arrangement to another.
Unrecruited out of high school, he played a year of junior college, then walked on at Utah. There he was coming on late in his sophomore year but in his first game as a junior in 2015, he suffered a compound leg fracture.
Despite bouncing back the next year with 45 catches for 711 yards and 5 touchdowns for the Utes, Patrick went undrafted out of college in 2017. He spent time with the Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers, before finishing his first season with the Broncos’ practice squad.
Against long odds, he earned a spot on the Broncos’ season-opening roster in 2018.
Patrick broke out with 51 catches for 742 yards and 6 touchdowns in 2020 for the Broncos followed by 53 receptions for 734 yards and 5 touchdowns in 2021. That earned him a three-year, $30 million contract extension although he essentially didn’t play a down through the first two years of that deal.
He took a deep pay cut, in this, year three of that deal in part because he desperately wanted to give the Broncos more production in return. He started looking like his old self late in the offseason and so far, so good halfway through the training camp.
“There’s a rhythm to it,’’ Patrick said about his comeback. “There’s also a new offense. I haven’t got a year in it, yet. New position (to the slot) so there’s a lot going on right now.
“But yeah, it’s fun. There’s no complaints over here. I’m happy just to be able to play every day.”
Once again, making the season-opening roster would be a huge accomplishment. If the Broncos keep six receivers, four are pretty much locked up for Courtland Sutton, Marvin Mims Jr., Josh Reynolds and fourth-round rookie Troy Franklin.
The final two spots figure to come from the remaining eight receivers on the current roster: Patrick, Brandon Johnson, Lil'Jordan Humphrey, rookie Devaughn Vele, Phillip Dorsett, David Sills, Michael Bandy and Jalen Virgil.
Where Patrick may be able to break any ties is his intangibles are off the charts. There's a reason why he is still around while so many other former Broncos' stalwarts have departed.
"He's a veteran with a lot of grit with what he's had to overcome,'' said head coach Sean Payton. "And yet it's been two years so I got on him about something earlier. There's something he did and I said is the ultrasound affect brain function."
Patrick has had a lot of treatment.
"He looked at me and wasn't real happy,'' Payton said. "But he's one of those players that's very well respected and you feel his toughness."
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