With Russell Wilson heading to the Denver Broncos, what kind of production can we reasonably expect from the Broncos’ wide receivers?
Russell Wilson is going to be a Denver Bronco, and there may be no one happier than the Broncos’ wide receivers.
Jerry Jeudy, Courtland Sutton, and Tim Patrick will now get to play the bulk of their careers catching passes from a Hall of Fame quarterback. What kind of production can we expect from the Denver Broncos’ wide receivers with Wilson in the fold?
Projecting this forces us to look back at some of the previous seasons of Russell Wilson’s career and how he distributes the ball among his teammates.
Let’s take a look at how frequently Seattle threw the ball.
How Russell Wilson can impact Denver Broncos WR production
In 2020, Russell Wilson was 19th in the league with an average of 34.41 attempts per game.
In 2019, he ranked 28th with 32.06 attempts per game. In 2018, he ranked 35th with 26.71 attempts per game. In 2017 he ranked 9th with 34.56 attempts per game, and in 2016, he ranked 21st with 33.67 attempts per game.
By all accounts, Russell Wilson has not thrown the ball a lot with Seattle. That was one of his issues with the offense. Pete Carroll was a more old-fashioned offensive mind. He liked running the ball and playing sound defense.
With Nathaniel Hackett now the head coach of the Denver Broncos, we can expect that the Broncos’ offense will feature a beefier passing attack.
Nathaniel Hackett was the offensive coordinator for the Green Bay Packers, who enjoyed back-to-back MVP seasons from Aaron Rodgers.
The Packers did their damage through the air, so it makes sense that Hackett would employ a thick passing attack to compete with the likes of Justin Herbert and Patrick Mahomes.
In 2020, the last full season Wilson played, he helped create two 1,000 yard receiving seasons with Tyler Lockett and D.K. Metcalf.
In 2019, Wilson’s lone 1,000-yard receiver was Tyler Lockett.
In 2018, Seattle did not have a 1,000-yard receiver, but both Tyler Lockett and Doug Baldwin had over 600 receiving yards.
In 2017, Seattle did not have a 1,000-yard receiver, but had four players with over 500 receiving yards.
Russell Wilson’s last several seasons in Seattle did not exactly feature a potent passing attack. Wilson did show a strong ability to distribute the ball, but Wilson also never had the luxury of playing with a receiving core as talented as Denver’s.
It might not be likely to expect that all of Tim Patrick, Courtland Sutton, and Jerry Jeudy can eclipse 1,000 receiving yards However, I think the safe expectation is that the Broncos will call more passing plays than Seattle did.
Nathaniel Hackett is a modern, young, offensive head coach, and was learning from Matt LaFleur for the past three seasons. I think it’s perfectly reasonable to project that the trio of Broncos’ receivers can all eclipse 850 receiving yards with no problem.
Being that the team currently does not have a huge tight end threat on the roster, perhaps Wilson will lean on his receivers more.
Denver Broncos 5 tight end options to replace Noah Fant
The Denver Broncos acquired Russell Wilson in a trade with the Seattle Seahawks, but they had to give up Noah Fant to get it done. Who replaces him?
It is safe to say that all of the receivers should enjoy very good seasons, especially Jerry Jeudy, who is finally going to be used and targeted the way he should be.