Denver Broncos: Complimentary Players that Need to Show Up

AJ Derby

Another name along the same lines of Jordan Taylor is that of AJ Derby. This is a player that not many knew a lot about coming out of college. He switched back and forth between TE and QB and finally settled on TE. When New England drafted him, it was with the thought that it would take time for him to develop. They have had success in the past though of turning QB’s into great players at other positions. My guess is they figure a QB knows every position on the field so it is just a matter of teaching them the core basics of the position.

I have reached out to a few Patriots fans about Derby when we traded for him. I just couldn’t believe the Broncos were willing to give up a 5^th round pick for a player that hadn’t done anything in the NFL. Every single one of them said the Broncos ripped off the Patriots on the trade. They called him a future star in this league that the Patriots gave up on too early.  I’m hoping all that is true and that he can be one that emerges sooner than later for us. We have been trying to figure out this TE position for quite some time with little to no success.

I do think the Broncos have loved what they are seeing in this kid. Kubiak has spoken very highly of how quickly he has caught on to the offense. Other coaches have said they think he will be an impact player for us this season. I would say that isn’t just the coaches giving us coach speak.  The reason I say that is this past game he was in on over half of the offensive snaps. There is no easing this guy in. He went from six snaps his first week to 44 this past game. Adding to that thought is the fact that they used him in a variety of ways.

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As a receiver, they were using him in a variety of ways. Maybe my favorite that I am hoping we see more down the stretch is him running the seam route. We just haven’t had a player that has threatened the middle of the field consistently this year.

Part of that is Siemian struggles some throwing over the middle but also nobody has been getting open enough. I watched Derby in this past game run the seam route four times. All four if the OL could have held up just a hair longer were with him breaking open over the middle.

One of them the safety didn’t drop back at all and there was no one between Derby and the end zone. They also left him covered one on one quite a bit throughout the game.  With his size and speed combination this should be a huge mismatch that we need to exploit.

Something else on Derby that I want to hit on quick is his blocking. One of the big weaknesses that people have pointed to with Derby is his blocking. With him being new to the position it is an area he has had to work on quite a bit.  At least against the Saints though blocking was not an issue for him.

I did not see him miss a single block that he was called on to execute. He won’t be pancaking anybody any time soon but he does well of keeping his body over his feet and not getting caught off guard. If we can run more of the 2-TE type sets this should keep teams guessing of what is coming at them. We can force some great mismatches across the formation. Honestly if I was a betting man this is the one player out of my list that I have the highest hopes for emerging down the stretch.