Denver Broncos: 3 players we wish were making a bigger splash at camp

2. Diontae Spencer, WR/RS

The Denver Broncos’ competition at wide receiver is so fierce, it’s hard to say whether or not last year’s Pro Bowl alternate return specialist Diontae Spencer will have his same seat in 2020.

That’s not to say that Spencer is not clearly the most qualified return man on the roster right now — he has over 300 career return opportunities as a professional to this point — but is he going to be valuable enough on offense to justify that spot on special teams?

If he has been, we haven’t been hearing about it, and I wish that were the case.

Spencer has legitimate track star speed, timing in the 4.3 range when he was coming out of McNeese State in 2014.

The Broncos attempted to utilize that speed offensively last year but Spencer’s limited opportunities only brought mixed results. He did have a couple of nice plays sprinkled throughout the 2019 season, but he wasn’t able to emerge as a consistent threat.

The Broncos seem to have a clear pecking order ahead of him on the wide receiver depth chart right now of at least five guys: Courtland Sutton, Tim Patrick, Jerry Jeudy, DaeSean Hamilton, and KJ Hamler.

Even though Hamler is injured (hamstring) and out for a couple of weeks (or a month), the Broncos have some others competing for playing time in the return game besides Spencer like Trinity Benson, Fred Brown, and even DaeSean Hamilton who has some experience returning punts.

If the Broncos only keep six wide receivers, who are you cutting to keep Spencer strictly for returns? That was a luxury the Broncos could afford last season because they had such a desperate need and not a ton of separation at the bottom of their wide receiver group, but they now have players on the roster — including Hamler when he’s healthy — who can make plays in the return game who might be better assets to the offense.