Not only did the Denver Broncos lose Tim Patrick for the 2023 season, but KJ Hamler is now battling a heart condition and was waived from the team on Monday. Tim Patrick was likely going to have a very significant role in the offense this year, and he'll now miss his second-straight full season with a torn Achilles suffered during Monday's padded practice.
KJ Hamler also announced himself that he will undergo some treatment for a heart condition, and it seems that he only may miss weeks. The Broncos did waive him with a non-football illness designation and may want to bring him back when he gets healthy. Well, that puts the Denver Broncos down two bodies at wide receiver.
This certainly doesn't make Russell Wilson's job any easier. Wilson will now have fewer targets to use in the passing game, and this will obviously spill over to the offensive mastermind, Sean Payton. I'm not sure what exactly Payton had in store for Patrick and Hamler, but both players are immensely talented, so their not being on the field is a huge absence.
The top two wide receivers are Jerry Jeudy and Courtland Sutton. Two of the most notable additions at wide receiver this offseason include Marquez Callaway and Marvin Mims Jr, who may have to step into bigger roles in the offense. At tight end, Wilson will surely have Adam Trautman and Greg Dulcich to throw to. Albert Okwuegbunam seems to be on shaky ground, so it's not really known if he'll even make the team.
I would expect the Denver Broncos to sniff around the free agent market to see if there is another body or two they can add at wide receiver, but Russell Wilson's job just got that much harder. One of the stronger parts of the Broncos' offense on paper this offseason was how deep their skill players were.
That took a massive hit. And all of a sudden, the WR is getting bit by the injury bug, yet again. This will, in turn likely mean that both Jeudy and Sutton are going to receive more targets in the passing game. Perhaps this would cause opposing defenses to put more attention on those two, which could limit the offense in the passing game.
I do think Denver still has a very good group of skill players, but losing two of them in one day is quite painful.