We've talked a lot about Denver's backfield, but the wide receiver depth chart must also be monitored. This was the league's most improved passing offense the second half of last season, averaging 56 more yards per game.
Courtland Sutton is the No. 1, and Marvin Mims the favorite to be the 2nd-best wideout. In the final eight games a year ago, he caught 32 passes for 447 yards, with 6 touchdowns. But Mims took over that role in part because other players disappointed the first half of the year: Josh Reynolds, Lil'Jordan Humphrey, Troy Franklin. So not out of the question that another youngster is able to supplant Mims, pushing him back into more of a No. 3 role.
Franklin is a possibility, and so is another second-year wideout (seventh-rounder Devaughn Vele). Third-round rookie Pat Bryant (pictured with Sutton) has the draft capital, plus the intriguing fact that Sean Payton compared him to Michael Thomas after the draft -- schwing.
I was curious as to how No. 2 wide receivers in Payton's offense tended to fare. He had Drew Brees at quarterback most of those years, so you'd think they'd have some really good ones. The results were a decent amount of solid starters, but not a lot of great ones.
Table below shows the No. 1 and No. 2 wide receivers on all of Payton's teams: 15 seasons in New Orleans, two in Denver. Final column is their ranking at the position in PPR leagues those years.
In those 17 campaigns, Payton offenses put a No. 2 wide receiver in the top 30 just three times. Those three players are listed in bold. Five times they put a second wideout in the top 40 (those players are in italics). Brees was throwing for over 5,000 yards in three of those seasons. I like Bo Nix, but I'm not sure that will be happening.
| PAYTON TOP 2 WIDE RECEIVERS, 2006-2024 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | Tgt | Rec | Yds | TD | Rk |
| 2006 | Marques Colston | 115 | 70 | 1038 | 8 | 16 |
| 2006 | Devery Henderson | 54 | 32 | 745 | 6 | 41 |
| 2007 | Marques Colston | 143 | 98 | 1202 | 11 | 8 |
| 2007 | David Patten | 87 | 54 | 792 | 3 | 43 |
| 2008 | Lance Moore | 121 | 79 | 928 | 10 | 15 |
| 2008 | Marques Colston | 88 | 47 | 760 | 5 | 38 |
| 2009 | Marques Colston | 107 | 70 | 1074 | 9 | 16 |
| 2009 | Robert Meachem | 64 | 45 | 722 | 10 | 26 |
| 2010 | Marques Colston | 131 | 84 | 1023 | 7 | 15 |
| 2010 | Lance Moore | 94 | 66 | 763 | 8 | 24 |
| 2011 | Marques Colston | 107 | 80 | 1143 | 8 | 10 |
| 2011 | Lance Moore | 73 | 52 | 627 | 8 | 34 |
| 2013 | Marques Colston | 111 | 75 | 943 | 5 | 25 |
| 2013 | Kenny Stills | 50 | 32 | 641 | 5 | 56 |
| 2014 | Marques Colston | 100 | 59 | 902 | 5 | 37 |
| 2014 | Kenny Stills | 83 | 63 | 931 | 3 | 39 |
| 2015 | Brandin Cooks | 129 | 84 | 1138 | 9 | 14 |
| 2015 | Willie Snead | 101 | 69 | 984 | 3 | 32 |
| 2016 | Michael Thomas | 121 | 92 | 1137 | 9 | 7 |
| 2016 | Brandin Cooks | 117 | 78 | 1173 | 8 | 10 |
| 2017 | Michael Thomas | 149 | 104 | 1245 | 5 | 6 |
| 2017 | Ted Ginn | 70 | 53 | 787 | 4 | 34 |
| 2018 | Michael Thomas | 147 | 125 | 1405 | 9 | 6 |
| 2018 | TreQuan Smith | 44 | 28 | 427 | 5 | 73 |
| 2019 | Ted Ginn | 56 | 30 | 421 | 2 | 81 |
| 2019 | TreQuan Smith | 25 | 18 | 234 | 5 | 91 |
| 2020 | Emmanuel Sanders | 82 | 61 | 726 | 5 | 41 |
| 2020 | TreQuan Smith | 50 | 34 | 448 | 4 | 72 |
| 2021 | Marquez Callaway | 84 | 46 | 698 | 6 | 43 |
| 2021 | Deonte Harris | 59 | 36 | 570 | 3 | 62 |
| 2023 | Courtland Sutton | 90 | 59 | 772 | 10 | 35 |
| 2023 | Jerry Jeudy | 87 | 54 | 758 | 2 | 50 |
| 2024 | Courtland Sutton | 135 | 81 | 1081 | 8 | 11 |
| 2024 | Marvin Mims | 52 | 39 | 503 | 6 | 57 |
My takeaway: I'm interested in Denver's No. 2, whether it be Mims, Bryant or someone else. Clearly that player will have value. But he's not going to be Tee Higgins or DeVonta Smith. You're hoping for maybe a top-40 player; that's the likely best-case scenario.
--Andy Richardson