Sean Payton Sends Message to Broncos' Overweight WR at OTAs
Marquez Callaway is hoping for a rebirth of sorts with the Denver Broncos. The fourth-year wideout followed head coach Sean Payton to the Mile High City to hopefully find his NFL fortune.
Going undrafted out of Tennessee in 2020, Callaway signed with Payton's New Orleans Saints. Callaway was emergent in Year 2, totaling 46 receptions for 698 yards and six touchdowns in Payton's scheme.
Payton stepped away from the Saints following the 2021 season, and Callaway went on to haul in 16 receptions for 158 yards and a touchdown without the savvy offensive coach calling plays. Callaway has appeared in 42 regular-season games (17 starts), notching a total of 83 receptions for 1,069 yards, with seven touchdowns during his career.
Although the Broncos' wide receiver depth chart is stacked and top-heavy, featuring a shiny, new second-rounder in Marvin Mims Jr, to boot, Callaway is fighting for the chance to garner reps in the same Payton offense that saw him really pop back in 2021. Reflecting on how Callaway emerged in New Orleans, Payton subtly let the wideout know how he feels about his current playing weight.
"Marquez made a real strong impression," Payton said of Callaway. "His weight is a little high right now and he’ll get that down. I kind of like the skill players at that right-out-of-college weight. Occasionally they’ll get over that, but he’s someone that found a niche and then all of a sudden, he’s in the starting lineup. He’s in a good group. I think we’ve got some depth there, and we’ve got good competition there.”
Callaway is listed at 204 pounds. It begs the question: what's he tipping the scales at right now? I wouldn't guess that it's any more than five or six pounds over his listed weight. We'll go ahead and file this storyline away for the time being.
The Broncos have a sterling history of unearthing gems from the fallow ranks of the undrafted. So did the Saints under Payton. The Broncos' new head coach reminisced on that undrafted history when asked about Callaway on Thursday, which should serve as a neon message of encouragement to the team's rookies who didn't hear their name called on draft day.
“He had one of those training camps that surprised us a little bit," Payton reflected on Callaway. "We had a lot of success in those years with 15 years of [college] free agents making the roster [in New Orleans]. You’ve heard me say this, once they get here—once we’ve drafted [players], we’ve signed free agents and we’ve tried players out—once they get here, how they got here is of no importance to us. That’s the art of just procuring players. Once they’re here, we’re going to go by what we see."
According to former NFL general manager Mike Tannenbaum, "going by what we see" was a core philosophy of the great Bill Parcells, whose coaching tree Payton hails from. While front-office guys, and, by default, coaches, will always have to balance the more political demands of a player's contract and draft pedigree, the most crucial factor in the personnel equation is the tried-and-true eye test.
Callaway passed that test a few years back in New Orleans, but it remains to be seen whether he'll be able to duplicate that feat in Denver. If he can get his weight down, I like his odds of catching on, especially with the NFL's new practice squad rules, which not only expanded the practice squad limit from 10 to 16 players but also allowed teams to 'elevate' such players on gameday twice per season without having to expose them to the waiver wire afterward.
That gives teams great flexibility, and provides less-established players with an expanded opportunity to show what they can do and work their way up to the active roster.
According to Over The Cap, the Broncos signed Callaway to a one-year deal worth $1.135 million contract. It's a little bit more than the NFL's veteran minimum of $900,000, and it reflects how the Broncos view Callaway.
With three NFL seasons accrued, two of which were in Payton's system, Callaway is slightly more valuable than a veteran receiver plucked off the street. But the Broncos could move on from him at the final roster cut-downs with only $302K in dead money.
The 6-foot-2 wideout showed in 2021 that he could be very productive in Payton's scheme. But he'll have to get into prime playing shape and find a way to separate from the pack.
Once you get past Jerry Jeudy, Courtland Sutton, Tim Patrick, and the aforementioned rookie Mims, the next group of receivers battling on the Broncos' roster will make for an agonizing decision for the coaches when the time comes. Callaway will be competing with the likes of KJ Hamler, Lil'Jordan Humphrey, Kendall Hinton, Montrell Washington, Jalen Virgil, and Brandon Johnson for a seat at the table.
Depending on how many wideouts the Broncos opt to roster coming out of training camp (five or six), there could be just one or two jobs to be had. However, failing that, more now than ever before, the practice squad offers a viable path to the roster for savvy, driven players whose training camp/preseason performance may not have been enough to outweigh other factors like draft pedigree.
Make no mistake, though: it would come as no surprise to see Callaway make the final cut. First-year coaches often prioritize a veteran with experience in his scheme to help bridge the gap for the system in its new home.
The experience Callaway and Humphrey have with Payton qualifies them both in that respect. And with how much talent the Broncos have at the position, there's likely only room for one of those 'bridge' receivers on the roster.
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