The Denver Broncos parted ways with 2020 first-round wideout Jerry Jeudy this past offseason, to the collective relief of many. The expectation was that in his second year, Marvin Mims Jr. would settle into Jeudy’s vacated role because his confidence would be sky-high after making the Pro Bowl as a rookie return specialist.

Broncos head coach Sean Payton then doubled down by taking wideout Troy Franklin to add even more speed to the mix. While it’s troubling that neither Mims nor Franklin has made an impact yet, Broncos offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi isn’t pressing the panic button. Lombardi still wants to see that speed on the field.

“I hope it’s a lot. You have to certainly pay attention to when they’re on the field and make sure that we have some balance between run and pass,” Lombardi said of Mims and Franklin. “Both of those guys are good enough route runners, they don’t always have to run deep. You want to keep track of your tendencies, but I think they’re both. That speed is important, and it loosens up the defense so having them on the field is important.”

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The Broncos’ inability to stretch the field has been an open secret for opponents, and it’s happening for several reasons. The opposition stays close to the line of scrimmage with impunity and worrying frequency.

Payton will have to get his thinking cap on, but with Broncos right tackle Mike McGlinchey now out injured and the O-line struggling badly anyway, the jury is out on how much time it can afford rookie quarterback Bo Nix.

Payton is trying to solve these pressing riddles by juggling some of his personnel groupings and hoping for addition by subtraction.

“I think reducing the variables can help,” Payton said this week. “It’s something that I think you have to look at as a coach. You have to start, ‘All right, what could we do better?’ I think that’s one of the things that we’ve talked about quite a bit. How do we reduce the variables, and then who’s doing it? Those two things I would point to.”

Juggling his roster is one thing, but Payton’s decision to release trusted veteran Tim Patrick also looks like it hurt the wide receiver room and limited what the Broncos’ pass-catchers can do. Courtland Sutton has seemingly been drowning in detail and making rookie-like mistakes as a result. Payton addressed the complexity of his assignments this week.

“Early on – he plays ‘X’, but he can play other spots,” Payton said of Sutton. “A lot of it gets back to the third downs. Tonight we’ll be game planning third down, and we have to be better in that area to add more snaps throughout the course of the game.”

Somewhat ironically, the failure to get Mims going is giving Broncos fans some uncomfortable flashbacks to last year when it was a weekly occurrence to hear Payton insist he would get Jeudy more looks, though it never materialized. The rumors still persist that Mims is still stuck in Payton’s dog house for whatever reason.

Sitting winless and facing an aggressive Tampa Bay defense on Sunday, it might be time that Payton buries the hatchet — if there is one. After all, single-digit snaps on offense for Mims is not cutting the mustard.

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