Cody Latimer, WR (Sayre Bedinger)
Much of the focus of this post thus far has been on the offensive side of the ball, and I’m going to stay there. It’s obvious that camp is going to be huge for all of the quarterbacks, so I went with what I felt like the guy who had the most to prove otherwise.
The wide receiver position in Denver is incredibly deep, starting with two Pro Bowl players in Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders. The Broncos also have a couple of really good young players coming up in Bennie Fowler (the recipient of Peyton Manning’s final NFL pass) and Jordan Taylor (the recipient of many passes from Manning during his rehab process).
Latimer needs a big camp because he could be teetering on the edge of being on the Broncos roster. Entering year three, the hype has never been lower for Latimer. The pressure, however, has never been greater.
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This is probably a hot take, but I think Latimer was overly intimidated by Peyton Manning in his first two seasons. Latimer struggled learning the playbook in 2014, and Manning was hard on him — visibly in games at times.
Because of Latimer’s lack of readiness as a rookie, I think he may have felt like he was walking on egg shells. Manning’s impatience with Latimer combined with his rapid physical deterioration likely played a role in the way he publicly undressed the Broncos wide receiver, and I can’t imagine how it was behind the scenes.
This is all just theoretical of course, but it would make sense given Latimer’s early struggles. Oddly enough, with Peyton Manning now retired, the door could be open for Latimer to have a breakout campaign.