With Marvin Mims out because of a foot injury, the Broncos are heading into Sunday’s home game against the Jacksonville Jaguars with their return game in flux. Denver has options, but the most likely candidate to handle punt-return duties is reserve cornerback Kris Abrams-Draine.
Abrams-Draine was the next man up when Mims briefly left Denver’s Week 1 loss to Kansas City. He didn’t end up fielding a punt in that game, but the Broncos are comfortable with him if that assignment comes his way again.
“He does a lot of things well," head coach Sean Payton said Friday. "We have a handful of guys that we’ve repped at that position, so a lot of it depends on where they’re punting from, if that’s the case.”
A 2024 fifth-round pick, Abrams-Draine brings a decent resume from Missouri on kick returns. He had 32 runbacks for 670 yards and one touchdown there. His punt-return work was much lighter, with just six returns for 12 yards.
Denver used running backs RJ Harvey and Jonah Coleman as its primary kick returners against the Chiefs, and that setup could show up again against Jacksonville if Harvey is available. Harvey is questionable for Week 2 because of a hamstring injury, which adds another wrinkle to the special-teams picture.
If Harvey can go, he and Coleman could again handle kick returns while Abrams-Draine takes punts. Another possibility is a promotion from the practice squad, with wide receivers Kolbe Katsis or Michael Bandy mentioned as options.
Special teams coordinator Darren Rizzi said Week 1 went “solid” overall, with no major mistakes from the kicking, punting or return units. Still, he knows the job now is to keep adjusting as injuries force the Broncos to shuffle pieces around.
"Adjust, adapt and improvise," Rizzi affirmed to reporters on Friday. "Our phase always has the most moving parts as you guys know with injuries and whatnot.
So I think we talked about a little bit about this in training camp, having a lot of options. I felt like last year we had limited options in the return game specifically.
I thought we’ve done a great job overhauling that part of the roster this year with some more options. So the conversations are who’s going.
Every week, ‘Who are the two guys back on kick return? Who’s going to be the punt returner?’
Last year there wasn’t a lot of guys in that conversation. I think this year, having more options there is a big deal.
There are always going to be moving parts with injuries and whatnot, and that’s our job to make sure that obviously we handle that part.”
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