Summer Sleeper: Denver Broncos

Jacob Feldman

We begin our annual 32-part Summer Sleeper series where DLF scribes identify a lightly-touted player on each NFL roster who may be worthy of your consideration. Our subjects all have varying levels of “sleeperness,” but each merits a bit of in-depth discussion here in the Premium Content section.

To help everybody along, we are going to be categorizing our sleepers under one of three headings:

  • Super Deep Sleepers – Players who aren’t roster-worthy in 12-team leagues, but are still worth keeping an eye on.
  • Deep Sleepers – An end of the roster player who is more often than not on the waiver wire in 12-team leagues.
  • Sleeper – A likely rostered player who makes for a good trade target. Their startup ADP puts them out of the top-175 or so.

Because we aren’t going give you the likes of mainstream sleepers like Tyler Lockett or Carlos Hyde, most of these players will undoubtedly fizzle. All we are asking is for you to keep an open mind and perhaps be willing to make room for one of these players on your bench. You never know when the next Willie Snead is going to spring up.  Feel free to add your own thoughts about our choice for the designated sleeper, or nominate one of your own in the comments below.

It isn’t very often that the defending Super Bowl champs come back the following year with so many questions on their team, especially on the offensive side of the ball. This is especially concerning since the 2015 Broncos weren’t the top tier offense we normally see win the Super Bowl. In fact, the Broncos were barely average last season on the offensive side of the ball. So when you take away not just their hall of fame quarterback, even if he was a shell of his former self, but also their heir apparent.

What might be even worse than their losses from a very average offense is their lack of additions this offseason. In fact, the only free agent on the offense who wasn’t on the team last year is Mark Sanchez. Via the draft, the Broncos added Paxton Lynch and Devontae Booker, but neither of them seem likely to have a major impact for their team this year. This leaves us with essentially the same offense we saw last year, an offense carried to the Super Bowl by their defense.

Looking at the offense as a whole, you of course have a pair of top flight receivers in the form of Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders. They also have the same duo of rushers with CJ Anderson and Ronnie Hillman.  Everyone else is unproven or has so far been unspectacular during their career. So where do you turn for a sleeper on this roster?

[am4show have=’g1;’ guest_error=’sub_message’ user_error=’sub_message’ ]

Jeff Heuerman, TE DEN

Category: Deep Sleeper

Behind Thomas and Sanders, the Broncos really have zero depth when it comes to pass catches. The rest of the receiver group includes people like Bennie Fowler, Jordan Norwood, and Cody Latimer. Of the three, if I had to pick one, it would probably be Fowler but I wouldn’t feel very good about it. Norwood is more of a specialist than anything else, and Latimer has been a major bust so far. Latimer definitely has the highest upside of the trio, but he hasn’t shown anything positive through his first two seasons in Denver. If the receivers aren’t providing any depth when it comes to pass catchers, we need to look to the tight end position to fill the void. I think this is exactly what the Denver quarterbacks will do as well, which brings Heuerman to the forefront.

Heuerman has prototypical size for the position at 6’5” and 255 pounds. While he isn’t an athletic freak like some of the all-time greats at the position, he is more than talented enough to be successful in the NFL. He has decent speed and good hands to go with his large frame. Like almost all young pass catchers, he needs some work on his route running and there will be some transition time, but the Broncos seem willing to make it work. He isn’t a great in line blocker, even with his size, but I think the Broncos will run a lot more two tight end sets this year, which means Heuerman could be the receiving option in that set up.

He missed his entire rookie season with an ACL injury, and he missed most of OTAs with a hamstring, so it is fair to wonder if injuries are going to be a common theme for his NFL career. The good news is there wasn’t a history in college, so it might just be a fluke thing. His competition at the position is rather limited. Virgil Green was once upon a time a favorite of some, including me, to develop into something. Unfortunately he’s turned into little more than a full time blocker. The Broncos also brought in Garrett Graham in free agency. Graham is familiar with the system thanks to working under Kubiak in Houston, but Graham’s inability to even see the field the last two years with the Texans’ lack of talent at the position makes me doubt his prospects.

Overall, Heuerman is a very cheap roll of the dice. He is coming off of injury and in the best case situation will be the third option in the passing game for someone like Mark Sanchez. The upside is a little limited due to the quarterback situation, but eventually the Broncos will have someone set up behind center. If Heuerman shows some promise, his stock could be on the rise.  In deep leagues or tight end premiums he might be work considering as an end of bench stash.

[/am4show]

jacob feldman