Denver Broncos: The 5 most important training camp battles in 2020

3. Third wide receiver

At some point, everyone expects the Broncos’ top three receivers on the depth chart to be Courtland Sutton, Jerry Jeudy, and KJ Hamler.

How quickly will they arrive there? No one knows.

The Broncos, as of right now, don’t really have a clear pecking order on the wide receiver depth chart. If you play the seniority card, Courtland Sutton and Tim Patrick would probably be your WR1 and WR2 with top pick Jerry Jeudy opening the season as your slot.

What’s going to be really interesting is seeing which receivers make their presence felt in camp early on. Will DaeSean Hamilton, one of Drew Lock’s favorite targets in his five starts, be the starting slot receiver with Jeudy on the outside?

How will Juwann Winfree factor in?

Does return specialist Diontae Spencer have an expanded offensive role on the horizon?

How much of an impact can seventh-round pick Tyrie Cleveland make early on?

Other holdovers like Trinity Benson and Fred Brown aren’t going down without a fight either, and the lone 2020 undrafted rookie on the team — former Wake Forest QB Kendall Hinton — will be interesting to monitor as well.

It should be no surprise if Tim Patrick opens camp as the other ‘starting’ receiver on the depth chart, even ahead of Jerry Jeudy, but there’s no question the top three receivers will play substantial snaps in 2020.

Even if Patrick opens camp as the no. 2, it wouldn’t be shocking if DaeSean Hamilton or KJ Hamler were to take his spot eventually.

There’s also an aspect of future planning here for the Broncos. Do they want to cut a younger player like Tyrie Cleveland in favor of keeping Patrick, who is on the final year of his deal and maybe not likely to return to Denver after this season?

Time will tell, but how the Broncos sort out their wide receiver position will be very interesting to watch.