Denver Broncos: Rich Scangarello explains Fred Brown call-up

The Denver Broncos promoted wide receiver Fred Brown off the practice squad. Offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello explained why.

The Denver Broncos signed wide receiver Fred Brown to a reserve/futures contract this past offseason and liked what they saw enough in his offseason work to give the former 2017 undrafted free agent out of Mississippi State the sixth spot on their depth chart to open training camp.

Ultimately, Brown having the WR6 spot on the initial depth chart didn’t mean anything as the Broncos have had seven receivers on their 2019 roster in three games, and he hadn’t been one of them until this week.

Early on ahead of their matchup against the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Broncos called Brown up off the practice squad. He took River Cracraft’s spot on the team, and from the sounds of it, Cracraft is moving on altogether after this latest bump off the active roster.

So why are the Broncos making this move? What is Brown going to bring to the table that they aren’t getting from their other receivers on the roster?

Speed.

Emmanuel Sanders has legit speed, even coming off of a major injury last year. Although the other receivers on the roster are not necessarily ‘slow’, especially return specialist Diontae Spencer, Brown has the chance to bring some true top-end speed to the lineup that the Broncos don’t otherwise have.

Offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello talked about Brown’s inclusion on the roster and whether or not it was a move for speed.

"“Yeah, I would say that (it was a move to add speed). Again, we’re kind of in a unique situation because we’re suiting up five receivers and that’s low, and then one of them (Diontae Spencer) is a punt returner who hasn’t been here very long…With that being said, you have to balance the guys you suit up with what we need to be successful. River [Cracraft] was very valuable as a backup in every position—smart player, slot, all that. In this case right now, yeah you want physical guys with speed. Courtland and Emmanuel are playing a lot of plays. We’ve had games where we’ve played a high amount of plays, more than usual, and that will add up over the course of a season. We have to be mindful of that.”Broncos OC Rich Scangarello (quotes via Broncos PR)"

It was a bit shocking to see Brown did not get more of a chance to prove his worth as a returner over the course of the offseason given he has 4.48 speed and is an explosive athlete.

Brown showed more than just athleticism throughout training camp and preseason play as well. He was getting plenty of work with the Broncos’ top offense and was making plays deep downfield as well as after the catch.

He’s definitely got the speed to be able to stretch the field vertically, and hopefully, that’s exactly what the Broncos try to do with him.

Right now, the Broncos are not in a prime position to take deep drops, but they do need to take more opportunities with play-action and get guys open deeper downfield by moving the pocket and not just allowing teams to press receivers and hope something good happens.

The Broncos aren’t going to rely on Brown too much. Obviously he’s near the bottom of the depth chart and the Broncos haven’t been using their backups a whole lot this season. Despite that, if they need to trot him out there for a few plays, he has the speed to get open deep and make a play.

His impact could be somewhat similar to that of a guy like Tim Patrick, although Brown is a different style of receiver completely.

He also showed he can make some plays on special teams in preseason play, so I’m sure we’ll get him in that phase as well.

Even if we’re just projecting based on his traits, the move to bring Brown up seems to indicate Denver’s intention to stretch the field a little bit more. I hope we see that against the Jaguars.