Over the past three seasons, injuries obliterated the Denver Broncos' receiver corps, curtailing any upside for the quartet of wideouts.
Jerry Jeudy, Courtland Sutton, Tim Patrick and KJ Hamler have all played in the same game just twice in the past three years. In 2020, the group played in Week 2 before Sutton missed the rest of the season. In 2021, all played in Week 1, but Jeudy left the game with an injury that would knock him out of the next six contests. By the time he returned, Hamler was on the shelf for the duration of the season (Week 3 injury). Last year, Patrick missed the entire season due to an ACL tear.
With Patrick on track to return, the Broncos might finally have their foursome on the field for the start of the Sean Payton era. The importance of all four being healthy is not lost on Jeudy.
"It means a lot," Jeudy said at his youth football camp Wednesday, via the team's official website. "We haven't been all on the same field in [how long], since my rookie year? So you know, it's been a tough few years. But having everybody on the field at the same time, it's going to be big, because I know what we're capable of, and they know what we're capable of. So having everybody on the same field is going to be a hard group of guys to stop."
The wideouts complement each other well on paper, but the lack of playing time together has left Denver's corps an amalgam of projections. Jeudy and Sutton were the subjects of trade rumors earlier this offseason before Payton shot down the thought either would be moved.
Jeudy has disappointed relative to his draftmates since being selected in the first round in 2020. He has yet to record a 1,000-yard campaign. The former Alabama product believes Payton's entrance will unlock his ability.
"He coaches me in every way he can," Jeudy said. "Every little detail that he's seen me mess up on, he gives me his opinion on it and thinking of ways for me to get better. I appreciate having a coach that's that dedicated in really helping me to become the best player I can be. ...
"He's a great offensive-minded guy. So him just putting players in the right position and just so they can be successful with different alignments, moving me around and stuff like that, and also just having the other guys around me that it's hard to just focus on me, because we got KJ, we got Court, Tim Patrick, we got the running backs. ... It's going to be a lot of pieces that you have to focus on that he knows what to do with."
First, the Broncos receivers will have to finally stay healthy at the same time to see what Payton can do with them.
