Fangio Says Broncos' Rookie WRs Jerry Jeudy & KJ Hamler Have Shown 'They Belong' in NFL
As the Denver Broncos season limps towards the finish line, head coach Vic Fangio has been increasingly vocal about the ongoing evaluation process of his players. The harsh spotlight has fallen most keenly on QB Drew Lock, who has not been without his own struggles, or critics, during 2020.
After four straight losing seasons, it seems Lock is carrying the onus that represents deeper organizational issues in the minds of Broncos Country. Patience is wearing painfully thin in the Mile High City, but it's worth remembering that Lock has only just now completed a full 16-game slate of NFL starts and he sits at 8-8.
GM John Elway’s intention was to build the nest around Lock in the 2020 NFL draft. Denver's first two draft picks were used on wide receivers Jerry Jeudy and KJ Hamler, respectively, and despite the rookies providing flashes of brilliance this year, consistency has lacked.
Both rookie wideouts have had bouts with drops and the Broncos offense has suffered at times as a result. On Monday, Fangio addressed the patchwork nature of the rookie duo's performances so far, but opted for a more encouraging tone rather than a critical one.
“I think both of them have good hands,” Fangio said. “Occasionally, you’re going to have some drops, but obviously just repetition and catching a million balls in the offseason, during the season, practice. All of that will help improve your hands, but I think both of them have shown that they belong in the league and will be good players in the league for a long time.”
The commitment to get the ball to Jeudy hasn’t really materialized consistently, especially of late, as the first-rounder has only caught four balls over the last four games. The lack of involvement has only served to pile on more pressure on Lock and offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur.
Again, it was Fangio who closed ranks around the former Bama star as he avoided making any critical comments about his first-round draft pick.
“Jerry’s working hard, playing good, the ball just hasn’t gotten there as much as we would like and as much as he would like at this point, recently,” Fangio said.
Some have interpreted Fangio’s remarks to mean that Jeudy's lack of involvement falls solely at the feet of Lock, rather than the offensive game-planning of Shurmur. However, it's more complicated than that.
Just two weeks ago, Jeudy stoked the fires of discontent, questioning on social media why he isn't being targeted more — a passive/aggressive indictment on both Shurmur and Lock.
For all the natural talent that the Broncos have cultivated on offense, finding the right combination has proved to be an elusive endeavor this season for Shurmur. Some of that can be attributed to a lack of a proper offseason that robbed this young offense of 1,400 reps in Shurmur's new scheme, leading to a unit that has sputtered along without finding a rhythm or identity, while the rest can be chalked up to the fallibility of youth and its downside of inexperience.
Coach Fangio doesn't seem all that concerned about how the sausage gets made, he just wants Lock and company to play a winning brand of football over the remaining two games.
“I just want to see winning football. That's all we're here to do is we all have to play good enough to win football games, and that's all three phases," Fangio said Monday.
The Broncos haven't won consecutive games since Weeks 4 and 6 and nothing would soothe the soul more than doing so to close out this season.
“If you can’t put streaks together, it means you’re losing, so it sucks, it’s frustrating,” Lock said on Saturday. “It’s frustrating. It would be great to be able to do that, it’s just about executing, going out there and giving ourselves a chance to do that.”
Finding a way to feed all of the dynamic playmakers in this offense would help. Outside of Lock’s eight completions to tight end Noah Fant on Saturday vs. the Buffalo Bills, Shurmur's model was again exposed as being woefully pedestrian and impotent.
It's back to the drawing board with two more games to find the right tack. Back-to-back wins, highlighted by offensive competence, would go a long way toward providing Shurmur, Lock, the rookies, and the Broncos as a team, with the offseason momentum to finally see through the final stages of Elway's mini-rebuild and to truly "bounce off the bottom."
Follow Keith on Twitter @KeithC_NFL and @MileHighHuddle.
