There’s no denying that the Denver Broncos underutilized wide receiver Marvin Mims in his rookie season. The fact that Mims’ single receiving touchdown in 2023 occurred in the second week of the season is borderline illegal.
It appeared that Sean Payton and the Broncos’ offensive coaches planned to extend Mims’ offensive involvement throughout the season. Mims demonstrated great playmaking potential when given the opportunity, but he finished his first year with more kick and punt returns (34) than receptions (22).
Mims made the Pro Bowl and was chosen 2nd-team All-Pro as a return man, which almost made problems worse.Why wasn’t Mims more involved in a passing offense that urgently needed the boost he could bring this offseason?
Sean Payton, head coach of the Denver Broncos, explained a mistake made during the 2023 season.
“I believe one of the issues is… I have said it before, and I will say it again. We were just as much accountable for, I don’t want to say holding him back, but you’re trying to get snaps with [former WR] Jerry Jeudy and [WR] Courtland Sutton. I believe we’ll see significant progress from Year 1 to Year 2.
Onlookers during Denver Broncos OTAs (the few sessions made available to the media thus far) have observed Mims’ explosiveness. Mims made one of the more impressive plays of the day on Jarrett Stidham’s pass during last week’s OTAs.
Payton’s comment seemed to refer to the fact that there was no “holding back” with Marvin Mims last year. There is a school of thought that young players are held back merely because they are young, unprepared, not good enough, or for other negative reasons. Payton seemed to be emphasizing that the Broncos were not holding Mims back, but rather attempting to get as many reps as possible for Jerry Jeudy and Courtland Sutton.
Hopefully, there will be a more expanded package of plays in 2024 to include as many receivers as possible, because there are now a handful of really strong receivers that we all hope to see make plays on Sundays this season. Not only Marvin Mims, but Courtland Sutton, Tim Patrick, Josh Reynolds, rookie Troy Franklin, and many others. It’s still difficult to believe that Mims didn’t get enough snaps or touches each week.
Mims had one or fewer targets during Weeks 5 through 9 of the 2023 season. That’s outrageous. We watched the Broncos try to change course following the Buffalo game in Week 10, and they did begin to try to generate some touches for Mims. Unfortunately, many of those touches were in the short passing game, attempting to get the ball into Mims’ hands and allow him to unleash his explosiveness, but it did not succeed. They also attempted passing the ball to him from time to time, but nothing was particularly successful or long-lasting.
Sean Payton’s goal for Marvin Mims must be realized by 2024 if he is to make such a significant improvement.
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