The Denver Broncos have one of the league’s top wide receiver groups, and at this point, there’s very little reason to think they would trade away one of their best guys and screw that up. With that being said, you just never know when another NFL team is going to get desperate enough to give you a call and make you an offer you can’t refuse.
One of the Broncos’ most valuable assets, as it relates to the NFL trade market, is wide receiver Tim Patrick. Patrick has gone from being a great training camp story to being one of the best receivers on the team.
In the 2020 season, Patrick stepped up in Courtland Sutton’s stead and caught a career-high 51 passes for 742 yards with six touchdowns.
Did we mention he didn’t have a single drop on the season?
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Why would the Denver Broncos trade Tim Patrick?
At this point, the reasons the team should keep Tim Patrick and even find a way to re-sign him (more on that in a post yet to come, keep your eyes peeled), we cover all angles here and leave no stone unturned.
The Denver Broncos’ motivation to trade Tim Patrick would have to be external. They are not likely to actively shop Patrick because he’s become such a valuable part of their team.
The Broncos would almost undoubtedly rather have to cut someone near the bottom of the roster who has a huge training camp than putting Patrick on the market and trade him to the highest bidder.
Even saying that, there are NFL teams with really ugly-looking wide receiver situations. There are teams that could legitimately insert Patrick into the lineup and he would be, at worst, their WR2.
The reason the Denver Broncos would trade Tim Patrick is simple — another team will have to come with an offer (2nd-round pick) that George Paton simply can’t refuse.
This could happen during training camp, it could happen closer to final roster cuts, or it could happen in the regular season if the Broncos are not close to the playoff chase come time for the trade deadline.
Patrick has great value right now for the Denver Broncos and it will frankly never be higher.
He is 27, so he’s entering prime years. He’s coming off of his best season statistically. His contract for the 2021 season is under $4 million, so he could be making at least triple what he’s currently making if he had been a free agent in 2021.
You combine Patrick’s improvement and productivity with his age and contract value, and it’s not difficult to see why he would be attractive to other NFL teams.
Here are the teams I think are most likely to be calling George Paton about trading for Patrick in the coming months or even just weeks.
1. New Orleans Saints
The New Orleans Saints are officially in the post-Drew Brees era. With one Super Bowl championship since Brees arrived in 2006 and some of the best and most exciting football for more than a decade league-wide, it’s difficult to consider the Drew Brees era for New Orleans anything but a resounding success, even if the team wasn’t able to win more than one title.
The Saints are now in a position the Denver Broncos can empathize with.
After the Denver Broncos won Super Bowl 50, Peyton Manning rode off into the sunset and much of the roster that won it all was gone the following season. Replacing a Hall of Fame, record-breaking, truly generational quarterback is not easy.
The Saints have had to do some very similar things the Denver Broncos did in 2016 here in the 2021 offseason. They’ve had to find some way to “replace” Drew Brees as the Broncos did with Peyton Manning. They have also had to do some serious salary cap gymnastics to put their team together.
Unlike the Denver Broncos, however, the Saints did not move up in this year’s draft for a quarterback.
Jameis Winston is the presumptive starter in New Orleans, his second year with the team after getting let go by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers who drafted him 1st overall in the 2015 NFL Draft.
Winston has Michael Thomas and Alvin Kamara to get the ball to, but who else?
Emmanuel Sanders and Jared Cook combined for 142 targets for the Saints last season, and both players departed in free agency.
Behind Thomas, Tre’Quan Smith is a fine option but in three NFL seasons, he’s proven to be a WR3 type at best, and the Saints would probably be much more comfortable with him as a WR4.
The Saints’ depth behind Thomas and Smith at wide receiver is a bunch of former undrafted free agents and 2021 seventh-round pick Kawaan Baker.
Tim Patrick would be a Godsend.
The Saints have somehow managed to get more than $11 million under the cap, so Patrick would fit in nicely there. They are also projected for additional third- and fourth-round compensatory picks in 2022, so surrendering what they would hope to be a late-2nd-round pick would be borderline negligible.
The Broncos would probably be open to the possibility of dealing with New Orleans because it would be a worthwhile 2nd-round flyer given Jameis Winston is the QB, not Drew Brees. Who knows how this season is going to go for the Saints?
It would also give Patrick a clear WR2 role to go to and really cash in in 2022 free agency somewhere.
2. Cleveland Browns
The Cleveland Browns are riding high after the team not only made it to the playoffs in 2020 but actually beat their division rivals the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The Browns have Baker Mayfield in a contract year and everyone in that building is obviously going to hope beyond all hope that he proves worthy of a second and massive contract.
Cleveland has clearly established itself as one of the league’s top running teams with their stellar offensive line and the duo of Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt. As good as their running game is, the Browns have some big-time weapons in the passing game with Odell Beckham Jr. and Jarvis Landry at receiver as well as Austin Hooper, Harrison Bryant, and David Njoku at tight end.
Tim Patrick would fit in with the Browns as either a replacement for Odell Beckham Jr. (who hasn’t been able to stay healthy enough to be the Odell Beckham Jr. we all know) or someone to add into the mix.
Assuming the Browns would keep Beckham in this kind of a deal, Patrick would give them a big-time weapon to add to the outside and a player who is both willing and able to block for those stellar running backs.
Patrick would be a welcomed addition for Baker Mayfield on the outside and someone who could bail out the former top draft pick with his massive catch radius and strong hands.
The Browns obviously want to take things to the next level and with one of the league’s most talented rosters, they are in a position where you could really see them being buyers, even if it means overpaying a bit, on the trade market.
3. Green Bay Packers
This one works just as well for the Green Bay Packers if they somehow figure out a way to keep Aaron Rodgers, or if they end up trading him to the Denver Broncos.
If the Denver Broncos are able to acquire Rodgers in a trade, Patrick could be one of the assets that gets sent to Green Bay in order to make that deal happen.
The Packers would definitely be interested in adding a 27-year old playmaker to pair with Davante Adams and give Jordan Love a trio of receivers — including rookie slot receiver Amari Rodgers — to distribute the ball to.
If the Packers convince Rodgers to play for them this season (or beyond), then Patrick would represent a rare aggressive move from general manager Brian Gutekunst to get Rodgers some actual help at the offensive skill positions.
With the sure-handed Davante Adams on one side and the sure-handed Tim Patrick on the other, and Rodgers at the helm, defensive coordinators simply wouldn’t be able to sleep at night knowing the Packers have two savvy players at receiver who are always open even when they’re not.
Green Bay with Rodgers has to consider themselves in title contention, and acquiring Tim Patrick would be a chess move towards achieving that goal.
4. New England Patriots
No NFL roster was more substantially overhauled in the 2021 offseason than the New England Patriots.
Bill Belichick didn’t sleep well after watching Tom Brady lead the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a Super Bowl title in his first year with the team, while the Patriots watched the postseason from the couch.
The Patriots’ spending spree in 2021 free agency was unprecedented for the Bill Belichick era, even considering inflation and increased cap. Some of their new additions included wide receivers Nelson Agholor and Kendrick Bourne, but the primary pass-catchers in New England this year will almost undoubtedly be tight ends Hunter Henry and Jonnu Smith.
With that being said, the Pats need help at wide receiver desperately. Are they really going to go into the 2021 season with Agholor as their WR1?
Tim Patrick would be a massive upgrade for New England at receiver, he’s affordable (have we mentioned that?), and he would almost certainly enter New England’s building as the team’s clear WR1.
The Patriots are always a team to watch out for when it comes to making trades. They have been rumored to be interested in trading N’Keal Harry, whom the Denver Broncos liked ahead of the 2019 NFL Draft.
Would a Tim Patrick for N’Keal Harry plus a draft pick swap be something George Paton would be interested in?
It would be worth giving some thought to, for sure.
5. Detroit Lions
Simply put, the Detroit Lions have the worst wide receiver room in the NFL.
Jared Goff is leaving the likes of Robert Woods, Cooper Kupp, and Van Jefferson and has inherited Breshad Perriman, Tyrell Williams, and Kalif Raymond.
Lions offensive coordinator Anthony Lynn has seen some of the best of what Tim Patrick can do since he was most recently the head coach of the Los Angeles Chargers.
There’s no doubt that Patrick would be an upgrade for the Lions and unless they are just flat out planning on tanking and making Jared Goff look bad in the process, Patrick would be a necessary upgrade for them.
Would the Lions give up a high draft pick to the Denver Broncos in a year where they are almost unanimously expected to be bad, though?
That is a great question.
It’s hard to see the Lions parting with a second-round pick even to get Tim Patrick given the fact that it could very well wind up being pick number 33 or 34 overall, an essential first-round selection.
If Detroit offered their second-round pick to the Broncos for Tim Patrick, George Paton would have to take that deal, in my opinion.
Denver Broncos: Five big winners from 2021 OTAs
The Denver Broncos wrapped up OTAs last week and with training camp on the horizon, which players came away big winners so far?
A third-rounder? That might even still get it done, again, considering the possibility that it could be a top-70 selection.