Outside of Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders, the Denver Broncos’ top two wide receivers, the receiver group is a wide-open race, and it’s not due to a lack of talent.

After letting Wes Welker walk in free agency after the 2014 season, the Broncos were left without a replacement for the third wide receiver position in 2015. Although the Broncos still haven’t pinpointed that guy, they are confident that this year will be different — even if it’s from multiple different players.

“I think [the receiving group] really [has] a chance to be a strength of our team,” said head coach Gary Kubiak after Sunday’s training camp practice.

Last season the Broncos saw young players like Bennie Fowler step up later in the season. Kubiak expects Fowler, and other young players like Cody Latimer, to continue to get better.

“What I really like is — I call it the guts of the football team — you’ve got your (OLB) Shane Ray’s, Bennie [Fowler], (ILB) Todd [Davis], (CB) Bradley Roby — all of those guys that this team needs to take another step … those second-third year players on our team are really becoming better players and it’s exciting,” said Kubiak.

With no true locks to make the team for the receiver position outside of Thomas and Sanders, through the first four days of training camp it does seem like Fowler and Latimer, along with veteran Jordan Norwood, have the upper hand over the younger competition. However, offensive coordinator Rick Dennison likes what he sees from the young receivers.

“Well, I think they all stepped up. Obviously made some plays down the field. We have a bunch of young guys that can run. We give them a chance to go down the field and they do a good job,” said Dennison.

The “young guys” Dennison is referring to – Bralon Addison, Mose Frazier, Durron Neal and Kalif Raymond – are all undrafted rookies that the Broncos brought in to primarily compete in the return game, but now the Broncos are seeing their value as wide receivers too.

“[Kalif Raymond] can run. He’s made some strides ever since showing up in the spring, he’s just moving along. But I think you can say the same too [about] Bralon [Addison]. Each of them is doing something, but they are all learning,” said Dennison.

Not only are Thomas and Sanders great playmakers on the field, but also they are an integral part of coaching up the younger players, too, especially on days like Sunday when the veterans had a day off.

“They see how [Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders] work and they all learn from that. They get an opportunity to get a few more reps when [the veterans] don’t play,” said Dennison.

On Wednesday, the day before camp opened, the Broncos added fourth-year receiver Marlon Brown, who has 15 starts and seven touchdowns in his NFL career.

The Broncos also have 6-foot-5 Jordan Taylor, who is having a very impressive camp so far, catching nearly anything thrown in his vicinity. On Friday, Taylor made an incredible one-handed, behind-the-back catch, which drew the loudest reaction from the crowd through the first four days of camp.

The Broncos offensive staff is very fortunate to have a few more weeks of training camp to continue to evaluate all of the wide receivers because there is still so much to learn about this talented group.

“It’s going to be really hard to make our team at that position. It’s very competitive and they all work with each other. So that’s exciting to watch, it’s a good group,” said Kubiak.

Coaches are always happy when they have tough decisions to make when it comes down to who will make the roster; and the wide receiver position may be the most difficult because of the wide-open competition and the emerging talent.