The Denver Broncos have a great problem on their hands out at UCHealth Training Center. They have a versatile, talent-rich wide receiver group but only a one starting spot and possibly two other roster slots open for additional pass catchers. The high-flying speedsters of the team have already made some fantastic plays from training camp but in order to make the team, they must do it consistently.
“I think our receiver group might be as good as I’ve been around for as long as I’ve been going to camp, potentially,” Head Coach Gary Kubiak said Wednesday. “It’s going to be very competitive from that standpoint. We know who our one and our two is. I think we all understand that, but it will be very competitive, special teams will have a lot to do with it. I think last year at the end of camp we were a six wide receiver team. We could very well be that way again.”
Wide receivers coach Tyke Tolbert, entering his 14th season in the NFL at that position and sixth with the Broncos, has the task of coaching up the group and preparing them for a season on this team or another.
“I tell all those guys to take advantage of those opportunities,” he told BSN Denver. “When they make plays they are not only making plays for the Denver Broncos but if they get on tape, they are showing 31 other teams what they can do. When it gets down to it, I don’t make those decisions. That is up to the guy’s upstairs, John Elway and Kubiak. I’m just trying to give those guys the best possible chance to go out there and be successful.”
So far, Bennie Fowler has seemed to resume his role as the No. 3 receiver and has looked as dependable as he was last season. Cody Latimer and Jordan Norwood, two more contributors from last season, are in the mix as well. Friday, second-year receiver Jordan Taylor made a spectacular one-handed catch that was quickly circulated across social media. Those players certainly have an advantage of being on the roster last season but that advantage is fading with each day of training camp.
There are several other talented players that have arrived in the offseason to complete the receiver group. Rookies Bralon Addison, Durron Neal, Mose Frazier, Kalif Raymond, journeyman DeVier Posey and the newly acquired, fourth-year player Marlon Brown have shown skills that will push the rest of the 2015 Broncos receivers forward.
Tolbert is looking is looking for playmakers but more importantly, well-rounded receivers to emerge from the pack.
“Guys that make plays in the run game and pass game. I emphasize run game first,” Tolbert explained. “What happens is, they are all here because they can make plays in the passing game but the truth of the matter is if we have 65 plays in the game and you catch five passes for 80 yards and two touchdowns what are doing the other 60 plays? Those guys can make plays with the ball; I want them to be the best player without the ball. That has kind of been my philosophy.”
Although the Broncos have two reliable, explosive receivers on the roster, they need at least one more true weapon and more depth for the lengthy season ahead. According to Tolbert, it won’t be up to him and when ultimately Elway and Kubiak make their decisions it will be the players, not the coaches that determined the outcome.
“[Thomas] and Emmanuel [Sanders], those guys are Pro Bowlers. Everybody else has to find their way,” Tolbert said emphatically. “The other guys, they determine who makes the team, they determine who is going to play more. At the end of the day, it is going to be on them.”
