The Denver Broncos brought in speed that could potentially be used on special teams.
The thing the Denver Broncos wanted to focus on most this offseason was bringing in players on the offensive side of the ball to help second-year quarterback Drew Lock. Could their offensive plan actually help special teams, too?
Specifically, K.J. Hamler is a guy who I feel is an intriguing candidate for kick return duties. The Broncos have Diontae Spencer handling both kick and punt returns, but technically could have both players lined up deep on kickoffs.
The goal of this is simple: there are some teams in football that have done fakes where the kicking team thinks that one player received the ball, when in fact another player did. That sort of trick play has worked very well in the past and should, in my opinion, be something the Broncos should take a look at.
Last season, Spencer led the way on returns, with a total of 26 punt returns and 15 kickoff returns. He gained a total of 644 yards combined (208 punt return yards, which ranked 10th in the NFL, and 436 kickoff return yards, which ranked 13th).
He averaged 29.07 yards on kickoff returns and eight yards on punt returns in 2019.
It’s understandable if the Broncos do not want to put Hamler in more of a position to get injured than is necessary but I strongly believe that he could play a big part in the team’s starting field position in 2020. Hamler has experience as a returner, with 44 kick returns for 1,036 yards (23.5 average) and 37 punt returns for 222 yards.
It has been five seasons since the Broncos have scored a punt return touchdown.
Don’t get me wrong, it is not all that common for teams to score on returns but I feel as if the Broncos certainly have the weapons to pose that threat to their opponents. They are going to need as much firepower as they can and if they have the weapons to do it, they should.