Mile High Sports
The Denver Broncos should trade for a receiver to help rookie quarterback Bo Nix.
Yes, they won easily 28-14 over the worst team in the league, the Carolina Panthers. But the stats tell the story.
One exceptional wide receiver isn’t enough to truly compete, even if the Broncos have moved up from the “bad” tier to “mediocre” as of late.
At 5-3, Denver has their best record at this point in the season since 2016.
Sean Payton doesn’t take the 5-3 record for granted. Nor does he think the Broncos are legitimate contenders. At least, not yet.
He questioned if the team is good enough at the positions surrounding quarterback Bo Nix after the win on Sunday.
“For a rookie quarterback, I think all of these are steps,” Payton said. “Confidence steps. We’ve seen it. The key is—and I’ve said it—the key is around him. Are we good enough at these other positions around him? That’s what we’re constantly looking [at]. We have to paint the picture, and when we do that, we’ll have success. We’ll move the ball. Today we were much better on third down, better in the red zone. [We had] two wide receiver fumbles. [It] just is what it is. It bothers you.”
Payton wondering out loud if the team has enough talent surrounding Nix could refer to the offensive line, but they’ve been a top-10 unit this year. More likely, Payton was talking about the skill position players, at tight end, running back, and wide receiver.
National Tight End Day was a hit around the NFL. The position group enjoyed 177 catches around the league, which was a new record.
And Denver utilized their tight ends well, too. Adam Trautman enjoyed a new career-high of 85 yards in a game, complete with his explosive, 37-yard touchdown catch. He hauled it in partially one-handed on the strike from Nix.
Seldom-used Nate Adkins scored the first touchdown of his NFL career, too. Plus, Lucas Krull hauled in two receptions for 18 yards.
No offense to Trautman, Krull, or Adkins, but the Broncos are lacking a playmaking tight end. That was supposed to be Greg Dulcich, but he was a healthy scratch against the Panthers.
And at receiver, Courtland Sutton went off. He enjoyed his best game of the year, with 100 yards on 8 receptions, which was notable after zero catches the week prior. Even Sutton isn’t on pace for 1,000 yards this year, though, he’s on pace for 801. Which is right around his average, but one has to wonder if he’s even a No. 1 receiver.
Pro Football Focus says the team’s receiver room keeps changing, pointing to the fact that Lil’Jordan Humphrey earned the second-most snaps (44) to Sutton’s (61). But, hopefully they kept in mind Josh Reynolds is on the short-term Inured Reserve for a thumb injury, and was also shot 10 days ago, but is recovering.
The thing is, even...
