Broncos' WR Tim Patrick No Longer Feels Like an Undrafted Player
Tim Patrick's NFL story is that of the underdog persevering over one obstacle after another. Going undrafted out of the University of Utah back in 2017, Patrick bounced around to a couple of NFL teams as a college free agent before landing with the Denver Broncos in October of his rookie year.
As a practice-squad guy, Patrick bided his time until he was able to really shine and separate in the summer of 2018. Signing with an NFL club after going undrafted was the first major hurdle of Patrick's career but making a 53-man roster out of training camp was the second.
Through a carousel of quarterbacks, Patrick continued to showcase his value to the Broncos, even after the coaching changes of 2019. His lunch-pail, blue-collar attack to his game earned him yet another spot on the roster that year.
Meanwhile, the Broncos were sending Patrick the message that the team was not content with the wide receiver position, investing not one, not two, but three 2020 draft picks in the position, two of which were in Rounds 1 and 2.
But it was 2020 when the stars really aligned for Patrick. As it so often does, the misfortune of one player turned into a blessing for another.
When Courtland Sutton went down with a season-ending ACL injury in Week 2, the Broncos' coaches turned to Patrick — suddenly the veteran in the room — to step in and carry the water as rookies Jerry Jeudy and KJ Hamler acclimated to the NFL game.
Patrick did the heavy lifting, providing Drew Lock a reliable target when the chips were down. As players like the highly-drafted Jeudy and Hamler dropped an alarming number of passes, Patrick did not. Drop. A. Single. Ball.
Patrick finished the year third on the team with 51 receptions for 742 yards and a team-leading six touchdowns. The Broncos rewarded him by applying the second-round restricted free-agent tender on him earlier this year, which not only boosted his salary to $3.384 million but also his ego.
No longer does Patrick view himself as a guy who didn't hear his name called on draft day. Now, he's a second-round pick.
“I don’t talk about it, honestly. It's something that’s in the past," Patrick said on Wednesday after OTA practice. "I got a second-round tender this year, so I feel like a second-round pick now. I kind of forget about that."
Patrick serves as a modest success story for the Broncos' ranks of former college free agents. If approached, he'll talk about it with any of his teammates but he's more focused on his trajectory and future than his past.
"Yeah. If they have questions, I'm all for telling them my story," Patrick said. "Like the free agent guys, they reached out before they got here, and I gave them some advice. I'm honestly here for them. I understand what they're going through right now and the days that they might be down. Sometimes they might not get as many reps as they want, but it's a marathon. Everything is not going to happen at once. You just have to keep fighting and show them that you're prepared to take that next step. That's what I tell them—just work hard."
I still marvel that despite receiving 79 targets last year, Patrick didn't drop a single one. It's quite the accomplishment that goes to show how much of a technician he is. This man is a pro.
“Hard work, a little bit of luck and my quarterbacks putting it on me," Patrick said. "That's pretty much it, man. I get extra catches in every day. I pride myself on catching the ball. Being undrafted, I have to stand out some way. This past year, that was my way of standing out—having no drops. I'm trying to keep it going.”
With Sutton returning from injury and the Broncos drafting yet another wide receiver in Auburn's Seth Williams, Patrick enters the 2021 campaign sure in his salary but cloudy in how he'll fit in. The odds say that this season will be Patrick's last with the Broncos because of how many young, highly-drafted wideouts are coming up who need to get paid soon but in the NFL, nothing is for sure.
Stranger things have happened. In the meantime, Patrick has proven to his coaches and teammates that he's a more-than-capable starter with the ability to make plays when called upon.
Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadNJensen.
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