Eight months later, Marvin Mims Jr. still wears a bewildered smile from the conversation that changed his career.
Early November. Week of Broncos-Chiefs. Sean Payton, the man who has tinkered behind two decades of NFL offensive evolution, came to Mims: “We’re going to put you at running back.”
It was “crazy,” as Mims remembered last week, grinning after one Denver practice.
“I was probably, like, 180 (pounds) at the time,” Mims said. “I was like, ‘There’s no way.'”
There was. From Week 10 on, the Pro Bowl returner looked the part of a Pro Bowl offensive weapon, racking up 472 total yards and six touchdowns in his final eight regular-season games. Mims spun out on routes out of the backfield, took more reps in the slot, and became a legitimate playmaker for quarterback Bo Nix on go-get-it balls. The Broncos’ offense leapt from averaging 21 points a game to 30.
“That opened up everything for us,” Mims said. “I mean, I feel like whenever we started hitting with those things — offensively, we just took off last year. And started doing a lot of RPOs, and Bo just looked as comfortable as ever.”
Entering Year 3 in Denver, the 23-year-old lightning bolt is all grown up. The confidence has flipped, ever since Payton’s grand experiment. The route tree has expanded, from go-balls and posts to deep drags and comebacks.
Is he now officially a guy, then, that the Broncos have to find ways to get the ball?
“Listen, we’re trying to get a number of those guys the ball,” head coach Payton said last week. “He’s certainly good with it in his hands.”
Therein lies a first-world NFL problem with projecting a Mims leap: The Broncos have a number of those guys at wideout who are growing up, too. Payton said during OTAs that Mims was one of a few young players “competing for touches” — Troy Franklin, Devaughn Vele and Pat Bryant are others — and that battle has yet to clear up a week and a half into training camp.
Courtland Sutton was just promised $92 million over four years to build upon an 81-catch season in 2024. Tight end Evan Engram was given $23 million over two years to be the Joker to Bo Nix’s freewheeling Harley Quinn. New running backs J.K. Dobbins and RJ Harvey will draw a heap of dump-offs and screens between them. The available target pool for the young wideouts has shrunk, even as individual games have visibly expanded.
That will force Payton to get creative, just as he did with Mims.
“When something like that happens,” Payton said of Mims’ breakout, “then you’re constantly thinking — ‘Am I, are we collectively in that offensive staff room or defensively, are we doing things that suit each player?’ ”
Mims, now an elder statesman in the room despite lingering hints of a baby face, is the presumptive starter at Z-receiver. Second-year wideout Troy Franklin is nibbling at his heels, though, operating in his second training camp with a hair more muscle and a growing heap of explosive plays in practice.
“You’re seeing him play faster,” Payton said of Franklin in minicamp, “with a much greater awareness within each play.”
The 6-foot-5 Vele will command another large chunk of reps from the slot, too, limiting the number of alignments where Mims and Franklin could reasonably share the field. Rookie Pat Bryant has built notably quick chemistry with Nix, too, as a malleable and steady-handed target from both the slot and outside.
“It helps to be consistent … somebody you can trust,” rookie cornerback Jahdae Barron said of Bryant during minicamp. “And that’s him.”
Mims, for his part, is a Swiss Army Knife with 4.3 speed. He wants to make plays every game — however that looks. In the Broncos’ loss to the Bengals last year, Mims racked up eight catches for 103 yards and had no punt returns. In another win over Indianapolis, Mims had 20 receiving yards but 97 on punts. Either is fine with him.
“It’s not really returner, receiver, none of that,” Mims said. “But just like, if I’m out there, I want to try and make a difference in the game.”
He needs the ball to do that, though. And he’s one of more than a few.
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