Predicting Denver Broncos wide receiver stat lines for 2022
Russell Wilson has never played with as talented of a group as the Denver Broncos wide receiver core. Let’s predict their stat lines for 2022.
Russell Wilson has never played with as much talent as he currently has on his offense with the Denver Broncos.
With the elite, but unproven receiving core and competent offensive line, Wilson and head coach Nathaniel Hackett are sure to put a great offense on the field in 2022 and beyond.
Broncos Country should rightly be excited that the team not only has a competent signal-caller but an elite one who has thrown for a ton of yards and touchdowns during his career.
However, not every season from Russell Wilson is eye-popping.
The Seahawks often tried the “good defense/good run game” team-building strategy during Wilson’s career.
Seattle usually had a very good defense and a great running game to complement it.
Perhaps one of the reasons why Wilson didn’t want to stay in Seattle anymore is because he wanted to be featured in an offense that threw the ball more, which is fair.
Fortunately, Nathaniel Hackett just served as the offensive coordinator for the Green Bay Packers for three seasons, overseeing back-to-back MVP seasons from Aaron Rodgers.
Now in Denver, Hackett gets the final say on offense as the head coach, and I think we will see a very heavy Denver Broncos passing attack.
Denver is four receivers deep, depending on who you ask.
KJ Hamler seems to be progressing nicely from his torn ACL, and if healthy, he is the clear WR4 in a very, very deep unit.
Let’s take a stab at predicting the stat lines for the Denver Broncos’ projected top four receivers.
Courtland Sutton is the clear-cut WR1 for the Denver Broncos. He’s a Pro Bowler and the only Broncos receiver with at least 1,000 yards in a season. He did that with a combination of Joe Flacco, Brandon Allen, and Drew Lock at quarterback.
Now that Wilson is throwing him the ball, I think we see Sutton get a heavy share of receptions during the season.
I look to D.K. Metcalf’s 2020 season as a good benchmark for Sutton. Metcalf caught 83 passes for over 1,300 yards.
Since the Broncos receiving core is deeper than what Seattle had in 2020, I think those numbers will be a bit less.
Sutton’s big body will be good to stretch the field a bit, so I’d expect he’d average around 15 yards per reception, which is his career average.
Let’s predict that Courtland Sutton catches 75 passes for around 1,125 yards.
While these aren’t high-end numbers, they indicate that Sutton is both playing with an elite QB and that there are other mouths to feed, like Jerry Jeudy.
Jerry Jeudy may have a Davante Adams-type role in this offense, which would be exceptional. They’re somewhat similar players.
Jeudy is a gifted route runner and is a bit underrated in the speed department.
I would expect the Hackett/Wilson combo to simply get Jeudy the ball in his hands.
Allowing Jeudy to work after the catch is perhaps his biggest gift. He’s shifty and has the speed to outrun most.
Getting Jeudy the ball on shorter developing routes while guys like Courtland Sutton, Tim Patrick, and KJ Hamler stretch the field could be a very good thing for Jeudy, who is going into a very huge third season.
Again, with the receivers and other offensive weapons that the Broncos have, I would not expect Jerry Jeudy to put up a monster season, but surely he will enjoy the best season of his career thus far, given he does not miss games due to his recent off the field issue.
Let’s predict that Jerry Jeudy catches 70 passes for 1,050 yards.
I think a 1,000-yard season is firmly in reach, considering Jeudy put up 850 receiving yards in his rookie season with Drew Lock at quarterback.
Let’s not make this hard. Jeudy is a good receiver and will play well this season.
Time for Tim Patrick. I think Patrick is a low-end WR1 talent who could serve as the WR1 for a few teams.
Being that he’s in Denver, he’ll get to be perhaps the best WR3 in the history of football.
I don’t think Tim Patrick is going to get a heavy workload, but he’ll still be a very effective player.
Seeing as I’d expect most defenses to turn their attention to Sutton and Jeudy, Patrick is someone who could expose the opposing defenses’ depth charts, as he’ll probably have CB3s and CB4s lining up against him.
Patrick has put up over 700 receiving yards the past two seasons, averaging roughly 14 yards per reception.
Let’s predict Tim Patrick catches 60 passes for 850 receiving yards.
Time for KJ Hamler. Hamler is rehabbing his torn ACL. Apparently, he could be back for week one, which would be great for the Denver Broncos.
Hamler fits closest to Tyler Lockett, so expect him to catch a few longer passes during the season. I am personally not high on Hamler, but I think he can break out a bit in 2022. Again, with how deep this Broncos receiving core is, expect some depth pieces in the secondary to be lining up against him.
Hamler should be able to beat those players consistently, and his sub-4.3 speed should allow him to burn secondaries every now and again.
Let’s predict KJ Hamler catches 35 passes for 560 yards.
On most other offenses, Hamler could be a WR2 or WR3, but he’ll have to earn his spot as a WR4 for at least 2022.
I think a Russell Wilson-led Broncos offense is going to be top ten, at the worst. He has a plethora of quality receivers to throw the ball to, a very good stable of running backs, two young, exciting, athletic tight ends, and a competent offensive line, which ranked as a league-average unit in 2021.