DaeSean Hamilton ready for a bigger workload in year two

Denver Broncos receiver DaeSean Hamilton is ready for a bigger workload in year two with the team. Could he be one of the team’s unheralded gems?

Denver Broncos second-year wide receiver DaeSean Hamilton is not likely to be the first Broncos player off the board in your fantasy football draft this year.

In fact, he’s more likely to be a fantasy football afterthought but if you like to impress your friends, you might take a late-round flyer on the Broncos’ route running machine and former fourth-round pick out of Penn State.

Hamilton, who played hurt some of his rookie season, is set to show the rest of the NFL world just how good he is and what kind of workload he is capable of handling.

According to Hamilton, he’s ready to be the featured guy if they ask him to be.

"“All of that wide receiver one, two, three, if ‘E’ (WR Emmanuel Sanders ) comes back and all of that other stuff, I think of it as I want the ball as many times as I can possibly get it. I want to make as many plays as I possibly can.”DaeSean Hamilton (quotes via Broncos PR)"

If we’re being simple about it, Hamilton being arguably the best route runner on the team (and when healthy, Emmanuel Sanders will have something to say about that) would mean he’s going to be open more than other guys.

If Hamilton earns Joe Flacco’s trust quickly, he could very well be the highest targeted player on the team this year.

Ben Fennel recently compared Hamilton to Seahawks receiver Doug Baldwin, who recently retired.

That’s a lofty comparison, but Hamilton has that type of complete game.

This is the type of receiver who can work on the outside, work from the slot, make plays after the catch, make tough catches at the sideline, or be a threat in the red zone.

He’s a very interesting all-around receiver but didn’t have the physical or athletic tools to set himself apart as a WR1 type ahead of the 2019 NFL Draft.

The evaluation process may have let Hamilton down, but he’s poised for a breakout second season and he wasn’t even the most talked about receiver at Broncos OTAs. That distinction belonged to Courtland Sutton, who was busy making strides of his own.

If the Broncos’ receiver group is fully healthy, teams are going to have a tough time figuring out how to defend these guys. It’s atypical for rookies to show their best stuff that first year, and Hamilton — as polished as he was in college — was no exception.

He struggled to stay healthy, and he wasn’t able to be as effective as he wanted to be as a result.

The Broncos know they have a young guy with a veteran’s approach in their blossoming slot receiver, but the rest of the NFL is yet to be put on notice.

Here’s hoping for a much larger sample size from Hamilton in year two than we saw in 2019.