Denver Broncos receiver many are sleeping on ahead of camp
The Denver Broncos are deep at the wide receiver position, but there’s one player you may not want to be sleeping on after a strong OTAs.
Can the Denver Broncos just keep 10 wide receivers on their active roster in 2022?
All kidding aside, picking six or maybe even seven wide receivers to make the 53-man roster for the Denver Broncos in 2022 is going to be pretty difficult.
Part of that is, the Broncos’ current depth chart starts with four guys who aren’t going anywhere: Courtland Sutton, Tim Patrick, Jerry Jeudy, and KJ Hamler.
Behind those four, there are plenty of questions to be answered during training camp, and plenty of players to consider for the remaining two, potentially three spots.
Sorting out the back end of the Denver Broncos WR position
This offseason, Kendall Hinton has drawn a lot of positive publicity from coaches, but perhaps more importantly, from Russell Wilson.
It doesn’t seem like Hinton is going anywhere besides the Denver Broncos’ final 53-man roster.
The Broncos also used a fifth-round pick on Montrell Washington, a return specialist out of Samford.
Does his fifth-round draft status and specific role on special teams make him a lock for the final roster? You would certainly think so.
Then there was Travis Fulgham drawing rave reviews out of OTAs as well.
We haven’t even begun scratching the surface of the depth at this position, and there’s still another player who might be more of a lock for the Broncos’ roster than you think.
That player is Tyrie Cleveland.
Cleveland was a seventh-round pick by the Broncos in the 2020 NFL Draft and has played 17 games for the team over two seasons.
Prior to an injury at the end of OTAs, Cleveland was having a great offseason program and impressing the coaching staff.
"Another receiver who made a leap during OTAs and the minicamps was Tyrie Cleveland. He’s going to be a core special teamer so he’ll make the team as a No. 5 or 6 receiver. Cleveland suffered a pretty bad ankle sprain on the last day of minicamp June 14 but he is expected to be ready by the start of training camp next week."
How in the world are the Denver Broncos going to sort all of this out?
We haven’t even hardly mentioned 2021 sixth-round pick Seth Williams up to this point in the offseason, and at this point, that might not be a good thing at all for Williams’ roster chances.
Cleveland is making an impression. Although Klis’ article notes that he’s expected to be ready by the start of training camp, we’ve already seen Cleveland taking part in Russell Wilson’s San Diego throwing sessions.
He’s already back, so he’ll undoubtedly be able to pick up where he left off at OTAs.
With his combination of size and speed, don’t be shocked at all if Cleveland becomes one of the training camp stars of 2022.
What will that mean for the rest of the receivers on this roster?
That will be one of the most fascinating stories to watch unfold as training camp gets underway in the coming days.