NFL teams have called the Denver Broncos this spring about the possibility of a wide receiver trade, but coach Sean Payton and general manager George Paton have both said publicly the club does not plan to trade Jerry Jeudy or Courtland Sutton.
If that’s true, the Broncos have exciting depth (on paper) at wide receiver going into their offseason program this month. In addition to Jeudy and Sutton, Denver also has Tim Patrick, who is expected to be recovered from a knee injury in time for the 2023 season.
KJ Hamler (pectoral) is also rehabbing, but it’s possible that he could return in time for training camp. Even if Hamler is sidelined this summer, the Broncos will have intriguing depth behind Jeudy, Patrick and Sutton.
Denver signed Marquez Callaway — who had an impressive season under Sean Payton in 2021 — during free agency, and the team is also bringing back fourth-year receiver Kendall Hinton.
The Broncos are also bringing back 2022 preseason fan favorites Jalen Virgil and Brandon Johnson, and they could both take steps forward in their second seasons. Receiver/returner Montrell Washington is also back to compete for playing time this summer.
Payton said at the NFL owners’ meetings in Arizona last week that he likes the team’s WR depth.
“I like the receiver depth,” Payton said on March 27. “We’ll continue to look at — look, we’re not a team that’s going to be, ‘This is the X [receiver], this is the Z [receiver] and then this is our sub-slot receiver.’ That’s just not going to be us. If you’ve ever followed what we did in New Orleans, that was never us.”
Payton seemed to be explaining that Denver won’t have certain receivers locked into certain roles with no positional flexibility. There’s was talk of Jeudy performing better than Sutton as a backside outside receiver last year, but Payton was not interested in having that kind of conversation.
Regardless of exactly where each player lines up on any given play, the Broncos have good depth at WR going into 2023.
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