As the margins for error get trimmed down late in the 2024 NFL regular season, the margins for where teams can improve also get much, much slimmer.
Teams can’t make trades anymore. All the rookies they drafted in April have shown whether they can contribute or not. To find an advantage at this point is difficult.
But there are some opportunities out there. One that might have a measurable impact for the Denver Broncos would be adding a former AFC West rival in free agent wide receiver Hunter Renfrow, who spent the last 5 seasons with the Las Vegas Raiders and was a Pro Bowler in 2021.
Bleacher Report’s Alex Ballentine had wide receiver listed as one of the Broncos’ biggest weaknesses ahead of a road game against the Raiders in Week 12.
The Broncos are currently sitting at 6-5 and hanging onto the seventh and final playoff spot in the AFC. It would be their first postseason berth since winning the Super Bowl following the 2015 season.
Broncos Receivers Not Setting World on Fire
That the Broncos are still in the playoff hunt is a direct result of having an elite defense and the rapid maturation of rookie quarterback Bo Nix, who seems to get better each week.
What you can’t really credit that success to is the play of the wide receivers outside of veteran Courtland Sutton, who leads the team with 49 receptions for 647 yards and 3 touchdowns. The next leading wide receiver is rookie Devaughn Vele, a seventh round pick out of Utah who has 26 receptions for 281 yards and 1 touchdown.
Sutton still has a chance to become the first Bronco since 2019 to pass 1,000 yards rushing or receiving in a single season. He’s averaging 58.5 yards per game for the season — a pace that which would put him at approximately 1,000 yards for the year.
Sutton’s recent play might see him cruise past that mark. In the last 4 games, he’s averaged 92.5 yards, which would put him around 1,200 yards for the season if he keeps up that pace.
Renfrow’s NFL Absence Kind of a Mystery
Renfrow finds himself out of football just 3 years after making the Pro Bowl with the Raiders in 2021 — a mystery in itself despite 2 down seasons in 2022 and 2023.
“Yes, Renfrow’s production tailed off the past couple of years and he dealt with some injuries, but it’s wild to think his days as an NFL player could be over,” Silver and Black Pride’s Bill Williamson wrote on Oct. 1. “… Now, he sits at home at a time when he is supposed to be in the prime of his career.”
Renfrow came onto the radar of football fans everywhere after he won 2 College Football Playoff national championships in 2016 and 2018 — most notably catching the game-winning touchdown pass with 4 seconds left to beat Alabama in the 2017 CFP National Championship Game.
After the Raiders took Renfrow in the fifth round (No. 119 overall) in 2019, he had over 600 receiving yards in each of his first 2 seasons before going off for 103 receptions, 1,038 yards and 9 touchdowns in 2021 and was selected to the Pro Bowl.
Renfrow signed a 2-year, $32 million contract before the 2022 season that coincided with a massive drop off in his production — he only had 81 receptions for 585 yards and 2 touchdowns over the next 2 seasons before he was released by the Raiders in March 2024.
