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Tag: taysom hill

  • Keeler: Broncos, Sean Payton want to make Bo Nix’s life easier? Get Marvin Mims Jr. more touches.

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    If you’re going to play with your food, Sean Payton, why not make it filet mignon?

    The Broncos are 6-0 this season when Marvin Mims has carried the ball at least once. They’re 11-3 in the regular season when that’s happened over the last two years. They’re 3-1 since September 2024 when Mims has received multiple carries.

    It’s all hands on deck, and this ship is wading into Super Bowl waters, just like Sunshine Sean said it would.

    J.K. Dobbins, your offensive MVP for Weeks 1-10, is lost for the season. You’re replacing those touches by committee from here on out. A dash of RJ Harvey. A smidgen of Jaleel McLaughlin, now your best downhill, between-the-tackles runner by default.

    But might we humbly suggest replacing a pinch of Tyler Badie with more pinches of Mims out of the backfield?

    Or Mims out of the slot?

    Or Mims out of anywhere?

    You can fake a run game over the last seven games of the regular season. You know when you can’t fake it? Against Buffalo or Baltimore in mid-January. Even at home with 80,000 Broncomaniacs at your back, screaming to Mile High Heaven.

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    “(When) I get the ball. I want to make the most out of it,” Mims told me this past summer. “That’s something I pride myself in, is being an explosive playmaker.

    “So being a ‘gadget’ guy is a good thing; when someone (ESPN) tells you you’re the NFL’s best at something. It’s something that you kind of raise your ears at … but, yeah, I mean, when I see ‘gadget’ (player) I think, ‘explosive playmaker.’ Whether it’s in the return game, offense, screen game, deep pass, give me the ball. I want to make the most out of it.”

    Want to make the most of what’s left of this offense after the bye? Feature more of Mims in it.

    The ex-Oklahoma star appeared on 15 snaps against the Chiefs — just 24% of the offensive plays. Fullback Adam Prentice (19 snaps) got more run with the first-team offense against Kansas City than Mims, a two-time Pro Bowl return man.

    Yes, some of that was choosing discretion over valor. Mims can’t scare anybody from injured reserve. He’s coming off concussion protocol.

    Although by the time the Broncos take the field at Washington on Nov. 30, he’ll be four weeks removed from the ding he took against Dallas on Oct. 26.

    That said, do you want to win a Super Bowl or not?

    No skill player left at Payton’s disposal is as singularly explosive as Mims. And he reminded us all why against KC with another special-teams masterpiece — 101 punt return yards, a new single-game high, and the most by a Bronco since Trindon Holliday’s 121 in 2013. Mims’ 70-yard runback in the first quarter was another career best, putting the defending AFC champions on their heels at the Chiefs’ 21-yard line.

    He’s averaging 11.0 yards per touch from scrimmage since he entered the league. Badie is averaging 7.0 yards. McLaughlin is averaging 4.6 yards. If you don’t want to trust your eyes, fine. Trust the math.

    Payton knows how to do quirky, how to improvise when injuries wreck his best-laid plans. In New Orleans, he made Taysom Hill the archetype modern “gadget” weapon. The former BYU star became a 6-foot-2 utility piece. From 2019-2023, Hill bounced between tight end, receiver and quarterback, depending on whatever Sean had cooked up. Hill recorded five straight seasons with Payton in which he threw at least six passes, ran the ball at least 27 times, and picked up at least four receptions. Over those years, Hill averaged 456.8 passing yards, 392.6 rushing yards and 150.4 receiving yards per season.

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    Payton is the NFL’s Baron Frankenstein, the mind of a mad scientist merged with Bill Parcell’s crusty soul. So why does it feel as if the only guy who can truly stop Mims with a head of steam in the open field is his own head coach?

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    Sean Keeler

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  • Broncos’ search for tight end help continues as NFL trade deadline nears

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    The Broncos are in the market for help at tight end.

    Where, ultimately, Denver finds it at this point is an open question.

    The Broncos, at the moment, are down to two healthy players on their 53-man roster in Evan Engram and Adam Trautman, and a pair of project-types on their practice squad in rookie Caleb Lohner and Patrick Murtagh.

    Sean Payton’s offense has seen its depth dwindle quickly in recent days.

    Lucas Krull originally hoped to return from injured reserve after the minimum four weeks due to a foot injury, but instead, he ended up having surgery Monday to repair a metatarsal fracture. He’s now expected to miss in the neighborhood of eight more weeks, a source told The Denver Post, which means most of the remaining regular season.

    Nate Adkins, meanwhile, sustained a left knee injury in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s win against Dallas. The injury appeared to happen without contact on a play that resulted in a touchdown pass from Bo Nix to Troy Franklin. The severity of Adkins’ injury has not been revealed.

    The Broncos, though, attempted to address their depth at the position Monday when, multiple sources confirmed to The Post, they put in waiver claims for both Ben Sims and Brenden Bates.

    Sims had been waived by Green Bay and Bates by Houston.

    Denver, however, lost out on both because teams higher in the waiver priority — Minnesota and Cleveland, respectively — also put claims in and thus were awarded the players.

    So now Denver is looking for other routes to fill the position. One part of the equation is that Trautman will likely see his playing time increase again.

    The veteran played just 30.9% of Denver’s offensive snaps against the New York Giants in Week 7, tied for his lowest usage in two-plus seasons with the Broncos. He’d seen an overall decline in playing time as Adkins got up to speed after a training camp ankle injury that cost him the first two games of the season.

    Adkins had been playing between 30-40% of Denver’s offensive snaps and provided some versatility — an ‘F’ tight end who could play out of the backfield, in the passing game and as a blocker.

    “He’s too good of a football player for us. We’re going to need him,” Payton said at the outset of the season when Denver opted not to put him on injured reserve.

    Now the Broncos may have to examine options externally.

    They could look to a familiar face from training camp like Caden Prieskorn, who just recently signed with Cleveland’s practice squad.

    Or they can try to work via the trade market with the NFL’s trading deadline just a week away.

    Among tight ends around the league who have reportedly drawn interest, could be available or generally make sense as potential trade targets, is a list that includes Cleveland’s David Njoku, Baltimore’s Mark Andrews, Tennessee’s Chig Okonkwo, and New Orleans’ Taysom Hill and Foster Moreau. There are, of course, others around the league, including a pair Denver just faced in former Broncos veteran Chris Manhertz and Daniel Bellinger with the Giants. Bellinger is in the final year of his rookie deal and had the best game of his career against the Broncos.

    Depth issues can force a team’s hand in making a move, but Payton has previously cautioned against the idea that a trade deadline acquisition can change a team’s fortunes.

    There’s not much time to learn a system, and Payton, in particular, is protective of the locker room culture the Broncos have developed.

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    Parker Gabriel

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