Stefon Diggs just torched the Broncos’ beat-up secondary.
The way he played on Saturday, racking up a season-high 11 catches for 147 yards, it was easy to see he’s arguably one of the best wide receivers in the NFL currently.
At 6′ and 190 pounds, Diggs doesn’t possess the huge size of some No. 1 receivers, but he plays much bigger than that. He can go across the middle and catch balls in traffic or run a double move and earn a pass interference call. Or, as we saw on Saturday, run a stutter-go up the sideline and haul in a 50-yard pass with ease.
Diggs thrashed Denver’s secondary full of backup cornerbacks on Saturday, and before he did, he had a lot of praise for the Broncos’ young receiving corps.
“I believe they’re going to be damn good, especially these coming years,” Diggs said of rookies Jerry Jeudy and K.J. Hamler. “They’ll be a damn good duo.”
Diggs has a special understanding of both Hamler and Jeudy. Not just because he’s seen tape of them this year, but because his brothers played with Jeudy while Hamler’s Penn State and Diggs’ Maryland have a rivalry.
“I know both those kids, especially Hamler,” Diggs said. “I’ve seen him when he was at Penn State. But Jeudy, my brother went to school with him…It’s their first year in the league and they’ve had some success. But I feel like the more they get comfortable with their quarterback, the more time that they put in; I know Jeudy and the young kid Hamler are definitely guys that work extremely hard in the offseason.”
Interestingly, Diggs almost has some advice for the two rookies there. We’ve all see how hard Jeudy works to be one of the best, young route-runners in the NFL thanks to his offseason highlight tapes. But, all that work won’t pay off without getting on the same page as Drew Lock.
Famously, Jeudy was upset after the New Orleans blowout loss where he got only one target, and even when he is targeted, he and Lock have been on different pages. To this point in the season, the first-round pick has been targeted 71 times but has a mere 30 receptions to show for it.
But, Diggs also acknowledged the injured Courtland Sutton, saying the team will have a “three-headed monster” when he returns from injury next year.
“They’ve got a nice little receiving corps over there that can get open,” Diggs finished. “They’re quick, they’re fast, they know how to run routes, so I wish those kids a lot of success. I like their game.”
Without a doubt, losing Sutton so early in the year was a huge blow to Denver’s passing success and hopes. He was a 1,000-yard receiver last year for the first time in his career, and the feeling is he hasn’t reached his ceiling yet. At 6’4″ and 215 pounds, Sutton is that prototypical No. 1 receiver who can out-muscle DBs and also go up and high-point the ball when he wants to.
And while his injury has not only hurt Drew Lock’s passing stats, but also the team’s production, the rookies have had the chance to bond with their second-year QB even more fully due to Sutton being sidelined.
With two games to go, both Jeudy and Hamler can continue to fine tune their relationship and timing with Lock before the Broncos go into the long offseason and prepare for another run towards the playoffs in 2021. At least, their fanbase is hopeful that’s when the five-year slide without postseason play finally ends.