Sleeper Broncos WR stood out at OTAs, and not anyone you would expect

The Denver Broncos have been rolling through the early portion of OTAs and a lot of players have been discussed. But having a 90-man roster means a lot of players are going to be overlooked, and that's largely been the case over the last year or so with wide receiver Michael Bandy.

Bandy has spent the better part of the last three years on and off practice squads of the Broncos and Chargers. The Broncos promoted him for one game last year and he played a total of 10 snaps -- two on offense, eight on special teams. That's not enough that anyone in the fan base is going to really recognize who he is, though. It's going to take a monster offseason from someone like Bandy to crack the Broncos' roster (or practice squad) at one of the deepest overall position groups on the team.

But he's seemingly off to a good start.

Bandy's name came up a couple of times over the course of the last handful of weeks at Broncos OTAs, and his emergence would further deepen what is already one of the deepest position groups on the roster. He's a smaller receiver at 5-foot-10, 190 pounds but he's got good hands and has obviously done enough to impress this Denver Broncos coaching staff in order to stick around for multiple offseasons in a row.

The offseason is all about stacking days for sleeper players like Michael Bandy. With the Broncos sort of resetting and reloading all over the roster this offseason, he might be stacking days at exactly the right time.

Bandy played his college ball at San Diego where he was an All-American and one of the most productive receivers in school history. If that doesn't tell you just how tough it is to make it in the NFL...

He actually caught 10 passes for the Chargers in 2022 before a brief stint with the Houston Roughnecks in the XFL in 2023. The Broncos picked him up during training camp last year and he was on the practice squad until late December when he was finally called up for his first game. Sean Payton and his staff have noted in the past how guys have impressed during practices and that has factored into the overall vision for the player going forward.

We've heard it about possible 2024 breakout tight end Lucas Krull, we've heard it recently about safety JL Skinner, and perhaps that's the case for someone like Bandy, who could be poised to make his claim on a 53-man roster spot in 2024.