Denver Broncos: 9 wide receivers vying for two roster spots

The Denver Broncos’ wide receiver group has gone from a huge question mark to a position that is absolutely loaded with talent. Who’s competing for jobs?

In a matter of 24 hours — give or take — during the 2020 NFL Draft, the Denver Broncos managed to turn their wide receiver room from one of the biggest question marks on the roster to one of the most exciting and talented.

Already with a Pro Bowl receiver on the roster in Courtland Sutton, the Broncos drafted Jerry Jeudy out of Alabama in the first round and KJ Hamler out of Penn State in the second round, getting the best route runner in the class as well as one of the draft’s fastest playmakers.

Considering how well Drew Lock played as a rookie with only Sutton as a primary target, Broncos fans are rightly excited about the idea of these two young draft picks giving the Broncos a number of options to keep defensive coordinators up at night.

The drafting of Jeudy and Hamler has created a desirable problem in Denver — there’s some depth at receiver now.

Out of necessity, the Broncos have been able to see the development of a couple of players behind the scenes with flashes of brilliance on the field over the past couple of seasons. These players who were playing significant snaps in 2018 and/or 2019 will now have to compete for their roster lives in 2020.

The top three spots at this position are solidified with Sutton, Jeudy, and Hamler. That’s still incredibly exciting to say.

Teams typically keep six receivers, but with rosters expanded to 55 players (two players can come up each week off the practice squad) it wouldn’t be shocking to see the Broncos utilize seven receivers on the active roster some weeks.

For the time being, let’s say they go with six players. At this point in time, we are operating under the assumption that DaeSean Hamilton — third on the team in targets in 2019 — will be the team’s WR3 or WR4 to open the season, competing with KJ Hamler.

If the Broncos keep six receivers, that leaves two spots open for nine players.

Here are the candidates and what each brings to the table.