The Denver Broncos wide receiver room could look entirely different after this season. Is 2023 a potential last dance for the corp of Jerry Jeudy, Courtland Sutton, Tim Patrick, and KJ Hamler all together?

State of the Denver Broncos wide receiver room

There is no question that the Denver Broncos wide receiver position features talent all across the board. The question is whether or not the team will see their top four wide receivers all available at the same time in 2023.

One of the more unfortunate dynamics impacting the Broncos’ offense for the past three seasons has been injuries to key receivers. In 2020, Denver lost Courtland Sutton in Week 2 to a season-ending ACL injury. 2021 saw Denver lose Jerry Jeudy for seven weeks after a Week 1 ankle injury, and KJ Hamler to a season-ending ACL and hip injury in Week 3.

Last season saw Denver lose Tim Patrick to a torn ACL in training camp and Jeudy, Sutton, and Hamler all missed time at various points of the season with their own respective injuries.

New Broncos head coach Sean Payton and the Walton-Penner Family Ownership Group have invested in Beau Lowery to help turn things around from a player health and recovery standpoint.

“Well, we haven’t been healthy,” Payton stated during the NFL Annual Meeting. “I can’t count how many snaps that all three of those guys—obviously [WR Tim] Patrick got injured. From a team standpoint, we weren’t healthy. None of the starters played in any of the preseason games and there wasn’t any nine-on-seven, one-on-one [drills during training camp]. The approach was much, much different than what I’m used to. I know that we battled a lot of injuries a year ago. I like the receiver depth. 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.”

Here’s the good news; Sutton, Patrick, Jeudy, and Hamler should all be good to go once training camp begins presumably toward the end of July. Hamler recently underwent surgery on his pectoral muscle after suffering a slight tear, but he is expected to be ready to go for camp either at the start or partially through camp.

After various trade rumors created uncertainty regarding the Broncos’ plans at the receiver position, it appears as if Denver is moving forward with all players intact, but that could still change as the NFL Draft approaches in just two weeks’ time.

“I would say a number of teams have called on those players,” Payton said at the NFL Annual Meeting in March. “I said it yesterday—it’s not something that we’re interested in doing. You would have to do your homework and you would have to figure out how it all got started. Obviously in the offseason, everyone wants to be on top of any type of transaction, and I understand that. It will continue, I’m sure, as we get closer to the draft. If you really look at the draft and you really look at the receiver depth in the draft, it’s not a real deep draft. If you’re a team that’s looking for receivers—we’re not the only team people called.”

How might new additions and young talent factor in?
Despite having their top four receivers in the mix this upcoming season, the Broncos went out during NFL Free Agency and added additional talent at the position.

Marquez Callaway comes over from the Saints after having previous familiarity with Sean Payton and how he operates his offense. With past injuries to Sutton, Jeudy, Patrick, and Hamler — Callaway is a strong insurance policy and is more than likely a projected roster lock.

However, Denver also added former Saints receiver Lil’Jordan Humphrey who could find himself playing a role as a hybrid receiver-tight end.

There will be plenty of competition at receiver during training camp because the position room is even more loaded with players like Kendall Hinton, last year’s undrafted rookie free agents Jalen Virgil and Brandon Johnson, and 2022 fifth-round draft pick Montrell Washington.

These ten players will all more than likely be part of the team’s 90-man roster going into camp.

While Payton has said that the team will not be trading any of their receivers, this could change once the NFL Draft approaches. Even if Denver stands pat, they could even add a receiver with one of their five picks.

New receivers coach Keary Colbert will have a lot of talented players to work with and evaluate as football activities are set to begin toward the end of May, leading into a mandatory minicamp in June.

However, if this season is truly the last dance for the group of Sutton, Patrick, Hamler, and Jeudy all on the roster at the same time together – hopefully Broncos Country gets to see them all contribute together this season for the first time.