In the wake of some already unsettling injuries, the Denver Broncos have officially added a couple of wide receivers to the 90-man roster to supplement during training camp.
The first injury for the Broncos at the wide receiver position was to newcomer Jaylen Waddle, who suffered a muscle strain in his left leg that is expected to sideline him a total of 4-5 days, per head coach Sean Payton. The second injury occurred at Friday's practice with Marvin Mims Jr. pulling up while running a go route.
Mims left practice and headed into the training room, and he was visibly upset on the practice field before ultimately leaving. In the aftermath of Mims leaving practice, the Broncos signed a pair of receivers, and the details of how everything went down won't exactly leave fans in Broncos Country feeling great about the status of Mims going forward.
Broncos sign a familiar face at WR after Marvin Mims Jr. leaves practice with an injury
Per source: Broncos worked out Rowan, liked him but didn’t plan on signing right away, he flew back to Utah, they called back after Marvin Mims pulled up with injury at practice today and flew Rowan right back to Denver. https://t.co/0yD8SNxk2G
— Luca Evans (@bylucaevans) August 8, 2026
After working out a handful of receivers anyway (and signing one of them), the Broncos sent Kyrese Rowan home without a deal. Although we don't know the details of Mims's injury, we do know -- via Luca Evans of The Denver Post -- that they put him on a flight back to Denver the same night after taking a closer look at Mims.
That's not great.
Rowan was with the Broncos last year during training camp, and even spent some time on the practice squad in 2025 as well. He's going to be a familiar face joining the receiver room, but as cool as the story is for him to come and work out for the team, leave without a deal, then get called back almost immediately, it's equally unsettling regarding Mims.
Even though Mims is the 4th or 5th receiver on the depth chart, he's the team's only real answer right now in the return game. The Broncos' depth at both punt returner and kickoff returner last year was horrendous, and it was proven to be exactly that on a number of occasions.
One example was last season in Houston, where Michael Bandy had to take over as the punt returner for an injured Mims. Bandy immediately muffed a punt and set up the Texans with a short field, gifting them a free 3 points.
The Broncos were supposedly going to be looking for alternative options in the return game during the 2026 NFL Draft, but they didn't come away with anybody. They found some players after the NFL Draft who might have some upside, but the early word out of camp is that many of the other players competing for reps in the return game are struggling to even catch punts cleanly.
The timing of this injury for Mims couldn't really be worse, so hopefully it's not an overly extended absence, but the Broncos signing a pair of receivers is indicative that the team is at least planning on being without him for a decent amount of time. Mims is not only competing for a bigger role in the offense this year, but he's also trying to earn himself a new contract.
With all of that in mind, it's understandable why Mims was clapping in frustration.
The Broncos have been dealing with a decent amount of injuries lately at training camp, including the cart coming out for the first time to take away defensive lineman Matt Henningsen, who suffered a ruptured Achilles for the second straight year during camp. Thankfully, in Mims's case, he walked off the field under his own power, but the team's quick response to get more receivers in camp is unsettling, to say the least.
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