Chad Ochocinco Says Broncos Have Unprecedented Situation at WR Now
Last year, Denver Broncos' wide receiver Courtland Sutton parlayed his 72-catch, 1,112-yard season into the first Pro Bowl nod of his young career. With QB Drew Lock entering his second year, the Broncos' brass did its level best to build the nest around him and provide as many dynamic weapons as possible in the draft.
Call it 'juice', call it what you want. Bottom line, the Broncos injected some serious speed and play-making ability at the wide receiver position by drafting Jerry Jeudy and KJ Hamler in back-to-back rounds this past April.
Lock now has an embarrassment of riches at the skill positions, especially when you consider the incumbent Sutton and former first-round tight end Noah Fant entering his second year. In fact, Chad 'Ochocinco' Johnson, a former six-time Pro Bowl and three-time first-team All-Pro wideout, believes the Broncos have something cooking that he's never seen before.
Three true No. 1 receivers. Now that's saying something.
Not only does that put the onus on Lock to be a point-guard-esque distributor of the football but Offensive Coordinator Pat Shurmur is going to have to figure out the best way to scheme touches to this potent triumvirate.
“When you add explosive players to the roster, it not only helps them as players to have an impact, but it also helps the rest of the guys," Shurmur said on Thursday during his virtual press conference. "I really do think you have to spread the ball around. Typically, in games that you win and play good offense, when you look at the stat sheet at the end of the game, there’s probably six or seven guys that caught passes and there’s probably two or three guys that ran the ball. I really do think if you’re going to play good offense, you need threats outside, inside and in the backfield. It’s going to be fun."
Shurmur has to be champing at the bit to get hands on these new weapons and begin the process of shaping them into bona-fide NFL studs. Due to the coronavirus lockdown, no player (except for those rehabbing) has stepped foot in Dove Valley since they cleaned out their lockers in late December.
No rookie mini-camp. No voluntary OTAs. No mandatory OTAs or mini-camp. The next time the players will be in the flesh at UC Health Training Center will be July 28 when training camp opens.
For now, Shurmur will have to get by with designing a playbook and crafting an offense than can find a way to maximize this smorgasbord of talent. Sutton has already established himself as a WR1 and Jeudy isn't likely far behind him especially with how developed he already is as a route runner.
I am curious to see how Hamler makes the transition to the pros, but his unofficial 4.27 speed will be utilized one way or another by Shurmur and Lock. It's going to be fun to see how it all comes together with so many mouths to feed and a young QB poised to kick the NFL doors down in 2020.
"We as coaches, we’re really, really excited to get the players on the field and work with them when we come back here in training camp," Shurmur said.
While I don't necessarily view Ochocinco as a WR guru, he knows the position so when he makes a claim as bold as the one he did on Twitter on Thursday, it would behoove fans to sit up and take heed.
Follow Chad on Twitter @ChadNJensen and @MileHighHuddle.
