The Denver Broncos are well underway with training camp in 2021, but not every player is playing up to expectations. Who has disappointed so far?
Denver Broncos training camp is now in full swing, and the team is merely days away from its first preseason game of the 2021 season against the Minnesota Vikings. The Broncos will practice this week against the Vikings to finally get a shot at someone other than themselves on the practice field, and there is plenty right now to be excited about in Broncos Country.
With that being said, there are always opportunities to look at players and areas of the team with a critical eye. No matter where a guy was drafted or how they got onto the 90-man roster, expectations were set going into training camp and some players have met or even exceeded those expectations.
Some players, unfortunately, have not.
Which Denver Broncos players are, so far, falling short of expectations? Which players are — dare we say — disappointing thus far?
There’s no need to be overly negative when it comes to players fighting for their NFL lives, but hopefully, this list of players will turn things around in the coming days and weeks.
1. Tyrie Cleveland, WR
The Denver Broncos’ wide receiver room is absolutely loaded, especially if they are all fully healthy.
Courtland Sutton is back and making explosive plays at training camp. Jerry Jeudy has taken a massive step forward it seems.
Tim Patrick is coming off of a career year.
KJ Hamler has been healthy to open camp and is showing off his outstanding speed.
The depth at receiver for the Denver Broncos is all about young talent stepping up and one player that was expected to vastly outperform his draft status in year two was 2020 seventh-round pick Tyrie Cleveland.
So far, Cleveland has really struggled in camp with dropped passes and he’s now missed some extensive time with a backside injury.
Hopefully, Cleveland will be able to get back onto the practice field soon and reestablish himself. He was one of the best special teams players in last year’s draft class and could unquestionably make an impact there for the Denver Broncos in 2021.
For the time being, though, other guys are really stepping up and possibly pushing him down and off the final roster.
Expectations remain high for Cleveland going into joint practices with the Vikings as well as the preseason slate. We need to see him get back on the saddle and make some more plays before he loses his spot as a possible WR5.
2. Cam Fleming, OT
The Denver Broncos signed not one but two veteran offensive tackles to “replace” Ja’Wuan James after he went down with a season-ending Achilles injury.
One of those veterans was former Chicago Bears starter Bobby Massie, who has been a factor at the right tackle position along with Calvin Anderson.
One player who has not been a factor is fellow veteran Cam Fleming, who right now is probably just injury insurance for one of Anderson or Massie.
The Denver Broncos have been grooming Anderson for quite some time now. He came in early in the 2019 regular season and got a couple of spot starts in 2020, looking really solid in his second start against the Carolina Panthers at the left tackle position.
At worst, Anderson is a solid swing tackle option for the Broncos. At best, he will be the starting right tackle.
Massie seems to be more than adequate depth and a possible starter at the position, so how does Fleming fit in?
With the Denver Broncos’ depth on the interior offensive line, it seems he could be the odd-man out.
3. Warren Jackson, WR
The Denver Broncos appeared to have one of the top undrafted free agent steals in the 2021 class when they snagged local prospect Warren Jackson, formerly of Colorado State.
Jackson, at 6-foot-6, is an imposing physical specimen at the position but he tested extremely poorly in terms of his athletic metrics before the draft.
He’d been training at Landow Performance in Denver, so he had a direct connection to many in the Broncos’ organization already.
So far in the 2021 offseason, Jackson had been disappointing enough that the Denver Broncos cut him not even 10 practices into training camp.
Not great.
Jackson has already resurfaced with the Minnesota Vikings, so he’ll have the chance to immediately practice against the Denver Broncos, but there’s no question that he has been and was a training camp disappointment.
With his size and strong hands, Jackson has a chance to be a very solid red zone weapon but it will not be in Denver.
4. Parnell Motley, CB
It’s hard to say expectations were overly “high” for Parnell Motley coming into 2021, but they were, at least somewhat.
Motley was a beloved prospect coming out of Oklahoma by many NFL Draft deep divers, and many couldn’t believe that one of the top corners in the Big 12 was spurned in the NFL Draft process before getting signed as an undrafted player in Tampa Bay.
Ultimately, Motley’s path on the NFL transaction wire led him to some significant late-season reps with the Denver Broncos, even as a starter.
He showed pretty decent in his opportunity as well, and with a number of injured players on the shelf at cornerback right now, Motley has had a chance to really make an impression and win that CB6 spot behind the established top five.
So far, not so great.
Motley has unfortunately been on the back end of some of the best and biggest offensive plays of training camp. It’s not inexcusable given the guys he’s going up against, but Motley obviously has to prove he belongs out there before he gets a roster spot.
It’s not a stretch to say that newcomer Rojesterman Farris has already outplayed Motley in camp action.
5. Baron Browning, LB
It’s extremely difficult to fault a guy for dealing with an injury, but no matter which way you slice it, it’s been disappointing to not see rookie third-round pick Baron Browning on the field in his first NFL training camp to this point.
Hopefully, Browning will come off of the PUP (physically unable to perform) list in the very near future as the team could be planning a versatile role for him in 2021, but all that we’ve heard about him at this point is more concerning than anything else.
Vic Fangio has talked about his injury timeline being short, then he had to change that tune and say it’s taking longer than expected.
Not great.
Then Fangio just recently came out and said that Browning is way behind in terms of where other rookies are or should be at this point in terms of missing those on-field reps.
Browning’s absence so far has been huge because Josey Jewell is also not on the practice field. He could be getting some very valuable first-team reps along with Alexander Johnson and maybe Justin Strnad, but for the time being, we’re not seeing anything.
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Browning could also be getting reps off the edge with some question marks in the depth department there for Denver, but for now, we continue to wait for him to don a practice uniform and get out there.