The Broncos could have traded Jerry Jeudy over the spring and summer. They didn’t.
They could have traded him ahead of last week’s trade deadline. They didn’t.
Coach Sean Payton on Monday reiterated what Denver’s thought all along about its fourth-year wide receiver: They value him in a way that exceeds whatever teams have offered over the past several months.
“He’s an important part and important piece of what we’re doing,” Payton said. “… Shoot, he’s a guy we think is dynamic. He’s a guy that last week – sometimes it’s a fickle game where all of a sudden we’re five games into the season and Brandon Johnson has three touchdowns and Jerry doesn’t have one. Sometimes that’s the nature of the passing game. But (Jeudy) played extremely well last week and he’s going to be very important for us going forward.”
Teams called. Made offers even. Payton went out of his way to point out that he never said Denver was going to stand pat at the trade deadline, even though that’s what ended up happening. He just said no team came to the table with enough to get he and general manager George Paton to say yes.
“We’re not the ones to be interviewed,” Payton said. “Go ask the people that are purchasing. We’re building and putting a team together. We kind of went through this in the offseason with a handful of players.”
Mims’ role. Payton told reporters he had a piece of paper in front of him during Monday’s conference call that had the number 19 on it. That, of course, is rookie receiver Marvin Mims, Jr.
Mims started the season off with a bang, catching nine passes on 11 targets for 242 yards. That’s nearly 27 yards per catch.
In the next four games, though, Mims had just two catches on three targets for four yards. Total. He has minus-11 scrimmage yards in the past three games.
“How do we get Marvin more touches and how do we incorporate him more into what we’re doing offensively?” Payton said. “I’m sitting here looking at a notepad with his jersey number on it in front of me. That’s our job as coaches. We really believe we have a good, young, talented player. Obviously there are other players on the offense who deserve the same kind of attention relative to play design.
“But we’re going to work our tails off to move that needle to where he’s getting opportunities not only in the passing game but he just does a lot of things well and he’s really good with the ball in his hands.”
Prime times. The Broncos play in prime time each of their next two games: Monday night at Buffalo and then Sunday night, Nov. 19, at home against Minnesota.
“It’s something we bring up,” Payton said. “The one thing we do know is, if you’re significant, you begin to play on a lot of these hours, the primetime night games, Thursday night, Christmas Eve, Sunday night, Monday night. And then the less significant you become, your chances — you might play one of those per year.
“For us it’s two-fold: We’re playing good teams. … and the competitor in you wants to play in front of large audiences and in important games. These are those opportunities.”
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