The Denver Broncos are chasing more explosive plays, and the easy assumption is that the answer lives at receiver with new addition Jaylen Waddle. But there’s a second name in the mix who could give Sean Payton exactly that kind of juice: rookie running back RJ Harvey.
Harvey flashed that skill set in the preseason against the Green Bay Packers, when he hauled in a clean over-the-shoulder catch from Bo Nix and showed what he can do once the ball is in his hands. That kind of moment fits the way Harvey sees himself.
“When the ball is in my hands, I’ve got to make one guy miss all the time,” Harvey said at the time in a recent piece by Nick Kosmider of The Athletic. “I’ve got to make ’em miss. When it’s crunch time, I feel like that’s when I really come alive.”
That confidence stands out because Harvey’s background isn’t built on being a heavy-volume pass catcher. He caught only 61 passes in four years at Central Florida, and routes like the wheel he ran with Nix have been a teaching process from the ground up.
“He ran a bunch of wheel routes, but not anything with the complexity of what we do here,” running backs coach Lou Ayeni said. “… But we looked at the explosion and the playmaking ability, and we knew that he could be a guy who could help us in that area.
And for me, personally, he’s a former quarterback. I remember this with David Montgomery when I recruited him (at Iowa State), and with Josh Jacobs; they were both high school quarterbacks.
One thing quarterbacks do is catch the snap every play. They play catch every night.
It’s the same thing with RJ. All those guys had great hands, and once I said that with RJ, I said, ‘He’s going to catch 50 balls.'”
That’s an ambitious number, especially with the Broncos’ backfield still sorting itself out. J.K. Dobbin is the man right now, while Harvey is viewed as sitting behind him and only slightly ahead of players like Tyler Badie and Jaleel McLaughlin, who was a painful cut last Sunday.
Still, Denver clearly intends to keep expanding Harvey’s role. Ayeni said the offense has already piled on more than Harvey saw before.
“There were more concepts in our first install than he probably had in his whole life,” Ayeni said. “Once he got comfortable, we wanted to be able to move him around and do different things where we can get him more involved in the passing game, get him out of the backfield where we can utilize him in matchups with linebackers and maybe even safeties.
We knew we were going to add more to his plate. It was just a matter of time with him being ready.”
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Bentleys path points to a familiar Broncos template, the kind once filled by Virgil Green, whose value came from blocking and special teams work long before his receiving numbers ever mattered. Bentley is expected to carve out a role the same way as a rookie, with his early playing time likely tied to the dirty work that coaches trust before they trust a young tight end with a bigger offensive load. [Read more 🡒]
Jaylen Waddle Could Change Everything For Bo Nix And Sean Payton
Jaylen Waddles brief preseason cameo offered a quick glimpse of why the Broncos went after him in a trade that cost first- and third-round picks. On one snap with Bo Nix, Waddle turned a catch into a 35-yard gain, and even in limited action he showed the kind of speed and separation ability Denver had in mind when it looked to give Sean Paytons offense a different gear.
The appeal is bigger than one highlight. Waddles skill set is the sort that can stress defenses vertically and create easier reads for Nix, while also adding more life to a passing game that has been searching for dynamic answers. The Broncos made the move to change the way their offense functions, and the early connection between Nix and Waddle is the part everyone will be watching next. [Read more 🡒]