"Even if we're covered, we're not covered": After losing K.J. Hamler’s speed, Broncos’ passing game will shift to another successful formula

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — It’s not even October and the Denver Broncos suffered another major blow to their wide receiver room.

K.J. Hamler’s season is over after he tore his ACL “and some other things” during Denver’s 26-0 victory over the New York Jets, Vic Fangio announced on Monday.

“K.J. is a hard guy to cover,” the head coach said on Monday, adding the team will really miss his ability to stretch a defense. “You saw the key third down that we made the conversion with him. We were in man coverage. The guy was nowhere near him. He’s hard to cover. So we’ll miss him.”

Once the former second-round pick is placed on the injured reserve, the Broncos will be down to only four receivers on the 53-man roster and will have to make at least one roster move to bolster the group.

Fangio stated the team will explore all options—both internally and externally—to help fill the void left by the speedy receiver.

“It’s getting tested a little too early,” Fangio added about Denver’s depth. “But we are a deeper team that we have been in the past. I think we’ll be able to absorb it.”

Along with Courtland Sutton and Tim Patrick, the only two other players on the Broncos’ active roster are Diontae Spencer and fan-favorite Kendall Hinton. With Spencer having a similar build and speed as Hamler—Diontae’s one inch shorter and eight pounds lighter than K.J.—Fangio said they’ll look to the returner to take on a “big role” on offense.

“A big opportunity for him,” the head coach added.

It will also be a big opportunity for Hinton.

If it weren’t for the injuries to Jerry Jeudy—which will keep him sidelined for many more weeks—and Hamler, Hinton would possibly be playing the role of Lamar Jackson this week on Denver’s scout-team offense as the team prepares to play the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday.

“But now I don’t know we want Kendall running around against our defense now,” Fangio stated. “He’s moved up the depth chart here the last few weeks. But he would be a possibility [to play Jackson in practice]. I’m not sure anyone can simulate [Jackson], anyway.”

In reality, however, it’s going to be nearly impossible to truly replace Hamler’s “God-given speed,” as Patrick put it on Monday.

“There’s other ways to make big plays,” the 6-foot-4 receiver added.

And look no further than Tim Patrick to see this.

On Sunday, less than two minutes after Hamler left the game in the second quarter, Patrick began putting on a show.

Coming out of the two-minute warning, Teddy Bridgewater tossed up a 50-50 ball to the lengthy receiver. Despite being smothered in coverage, the defender committing an illegal use of hands, hands to the face penalty on him and the sun in his eyes, Patrick came down with the ball for a gain of 27 yards and put Denver in scoring range.

In the fourth quarter, Patrick pulled down two more contested catches along the sideline for gains of 24 and 31 yards. Not only is Patrick incredibly successful at bringing down the 50-50 balls, but so is his counterpart Courtland Sutton.

Without Hamler’s speed to burn by opposing defenses, this will be the formula for Denver’s passing game, especially down the field.

“Even if we’re covered, we’re not covered,” Patrick said about he and Sutton’s ability to go up and get balls. “You can play the perfect defense and we’ll go out there and make an amazing catch and the coach can’t tell you, ‘You got to do this better. You were in a perfect coverage.’ We wanted the ball more. We got it. It’s deflating for defenses.”

On Sunday against the Jets, Sutton and Patrick were perfect when the ball came there way. Each had five targets. Each had five catches. Sunday it was Patrick’s turn to feast downfield as he ended with 98 yards through the air. But just a week before, it was Sutton’s day as he had a career-high 159 receiving yards on a career-high nine catches.

“I didn’t think I played that well,” Patrick said about his performance against the Jets after watching the tape. “I just made big catches, that you guys like, so it seemed like I played well. I had a lot of little things I messed up on. My route running wasn’t as good as it was in the past two games. But I made bigger plays this week, so it all kind of washes that away.”

There’s no doubt losing Hamler’s speed, quickness and big-play ability is a huge blow to Denver’s offense . That’s why there will be no replacing him. Instead, the Broncos will just go big, which has been very successful so far this year.