Why cutting Tim Patrick was still the right call for Broncos

When Tim Patrick pivoted and hauled in a 1-yard, fourth-and-goal pass from Jared Goff for his first regular-season touchdown in 1,082 days on Thursday night — and then added a second touchdown two possessions later — it would have been easy to think that the Denver Broncos made a mistake by moving on from the veteran wide receiver at the end of training camp.

After all, Patrick showed that he still has some productivity in him. And those scores added another warm blanket to the soul-nourishing feel-good story that is the 2024 Detroit Lions.

But despite what NFL commercials claiming “football is family” will try to sell you, this is a sport of frigid realities delivered with all the subtlety of a bucket of ice water poured onto your torso in the middle of the night while you sleep.

And the reality is this: The Broncos are in a better place now because they parted ways with Tim Patrick.

They’re in a better spot because the repetitions that would have belonged to Patrick eventually found their way to younger wide receivers who needed the repetitions and evaluation.

Denver has an intriguing corps of pass catchers, with three of the five members on the 53-player roster in their rookie or second seasons in the NFL. And they know more about Devaughn Vele, Troy Franklin and Marvin Mims Jr. because Patrick wasn’t there consuming repetitions.

Further, Lil’Jordan Humphrey — who was cut on the same day as Patrick but bounced to the practice squad before returning to the 53-player roster — is the best blocker among Denver’s wide receivers, so much so that Vele said in recent weeks that he studied and listened to Humphrey to learn how to effectively block in the run game.

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“He’s extremely smart. He’s really intelligent. He understands angles and leverage points,” Sean Payton explained recently.

And with Vele looking to Humphrey for guidance, the result is plays like the one Franklin had in the right flat Monday night, with Vele and tight end Nate Adkins delivering blocks that sprung the fourth-round pick for a 23-yard gain that set up a touchdown. So, the Broncos weren’t going to keep Patrick at the expense of Humphrey, who has proven valuable in not only his contributions, but his example.

As a result, Vele has proven to be everything the Broncos hoped he could be when Payton compared him with Patrick just after drafting him.

AND TIM PATRICK IS IN A PERFECT SPOT

Not only do the Broncos sit in a better place, but Patrick does, too.

After a few weeks on Detroit’s practice squad waiting for his chance, he is now a regular contributor to a team that will deliver him to the postseason for the first time as a pro — and could be in pole position for a spot in Super Bowl LIX with the NFC’s No. 1 seed.

He’s productive in Honolulu blue — albeit not to the same degree as his two years as a Broncos starter prior to his twin troubles: a torn anterior cruciate ligament during training camp in 2022 and a ruptured Achilles in the subsequent training camp.

Indeed, Patrick’s per-catch average and per-game averages in receptions and receiving yardage are all down compared from where they were during his two starting seasons.

He’s on 17-game pace of 38.3 catches and 494 receiving yards this year. Not bad, but off of his 17-game prorated pace of 57.0 receptions and 809 yards before the injuries.

And having turned 31 years of age last month with the accumulated wear of two injuries having an impact, the likelihood is that Patrick will not match the production that led George Paton to give him a 3-year contract extension in 2021.

Meanwhile, in 9 games played, Vele has 377 yards on 33 receptions. That puts him on a per-17-game pace of 62.0 catches for 712 yards — quite similar to Patrick’s pre-injuries 17-game pace in his two seasons as a starter.

For all intents and purposes, Vele IS Patrick. With the playing time that fell his way, he’s approximated Patrick’s production.

Vele even helped render Josh Reynolds redundant. Just as Patrick flourished in camp, so did Reynolds, whom the Broncos signed in March in part because of valid questions regarding whether Patrick could make it all the way back.

Reynolds started the season in solid fashion, and at the time when he fractured his finger, he was on pace for 622 receiving yards, which would have been a career-high.

He was exactly what the Broncos reasonably hoped he could be. But now he’s no longer a Bronco, waived this week rather than activated from injured reserve after finger surgery and a wound sustained in a subsequent shooting.

Reynolds has a new address because Vele stepped forward in his absence, because Franklin has shown flashes as a play-making short-area target in the flat and because Sean Payton and his coaching staff were able to finally find a proper use for Mims on offense, moving about the formation from the backfield in a role that has common threads with the “joker” that Payton has sought since arriving nearly 23 months ago.

None of of these current truths regarding the Broncos’ receiving corps might have availed themselves this season had the Broncos made the move that rocked their fan base in late August.

Tim Patrick is a valuable rotational piece in the Lions’ receiving corps. But with Patrick, questions about young wide receivers on the roster would barely be asked, let alone have answers rapidly forming.

Patrick got a chance to play for a title contender. The Broncos got to evaluate their young wide receivers — while becoming a playoff contender of their own. And they found out that the rookie they compared with Patrick could be as productive as Patrick himself.

The transaction stung when it happened. But everybody won in the end.