OCTOBER 3: Smith will become the latest former Saint to head to Denver, with Klis adding the signing is a go. It is a practice squad deal. The former New Orleans third-round pick, who played four seasons under Payton, will rejoin his longtime coach. Broncos OC Joe Lombardi was also in New Orleans during part of Smith’s tenure.
SEPTEMBER 29: The Broncos dealt with some early season injuries to their wide receiving corps this year, and though things are finally starting to look up, the team won’t likely be turning down the opportunity to add some quality depth. According to 9NEWS’s Mike Klis, Denver is expected to sign newly available wide receiver Tre’Quan Smith early next week. 
As the season opened, the Broncos knew that they would be without Tim Patrick (dealing with yet another season-ending injury) and second-year undrafted wideout Jalen Virgil (season-ending meniscus tear). The team also waived former second-round pick KJ Hamler as he struggled to deal with his continuous injury troubles. On top of that, Jerry Jeudy would miss some time as he worked his way back from a hamstring injury.
With Jeudy out, Denver called on practice squad wideout, and former first-round pick, Phillip Dorsett to fill in alongside Courtland Sutton, Brandon Johnson, rookie second-round pick Marvin Mims, and Lil’Jordan Humphrey. At this point, Jeudy has returned and got a healthy workload in the team’s recent one-sided loss to the Dolphins. Still, the absences of Patrick and Virgil make a potential strength on the team a potential liability.
With much less margin for error, the Broncos look to be turning to Smith. Smith has been dealing with some injury issues of his own. A training camp groin injury held Smith out to the point that he was placed on injured reserve to start the season. With the return of Michael Thomas and the continued emergence of second-year receivers Chris Olave and Rashid Shaheed, the Saints released Smith from the IR. As younger players were showing more potential, Smith’s role in the offense had become unclear and his inability to stay on the field cost him a roster spot.
Denver wasn’t the only team to show interest in the veteran wide receiver, though. Multiple teams reportedly stepped in to express their interest in the free agent, but signs, for now, are pointing to Mile High. Likely the employment of head coach Sean Payton has some influence on the signing. Payton hasn’t shied away from bringing his guys in as Smith will be rejoining former New Orleans teammates in Humphrey and kicker Wil Lutz.
The interest surrounding Smith’s free agency points to the likelihood that he was close to coming off IR before being released by the Saints. We could perhaps see Smith making an impact on the Broncos’ offense in his first week with the team if that turns out to be true.
I think that this is more about Payton wanting another one of his guys in the room as he goes back to whatever foundation he thinks is necessary to flip the team. Courtland Sutton’s two fumbles last Sunday notwithstanding, the wideouts haven’t been bad.
On the other hand, there are injury concerns and inconsistency on that part of the team. I personally would have liked to see a tight end or edge rusher taken higher in the draft, but Mims has been good. As the article pointed out, however, Jeudy has an injury history, and Sutton had those two awful turnovers to spoil his otherwise productive day. Smith isn’t better than any of those top three players, but right now, Denver needs trustworthy execution before even thinking about big plays. I think that’s what’s disappointing to Payton-this team should be talented enough to make some explosive offenses, but it is incapable of executing simple plays consistently. Payton should be calling fancy schemes and using the talent as a weapon; instead, he’s going to have to start over and treat the offense like it’s still learning the ropes. That has to be frustrating, and that would be where a guy like Smith (and his earlier signing of Humphrey) would be helpful.
Like I said, though, this is less directly an issue of needing better wideouts than it is in getting better execution. Wilson is better, but still struggles with consistency, especially in “got to have it” situations. Denver is at least scoring early, which indicates that Wilson is executing Payton’s scripted plays well. The problem is that late in the game the offense is sputtering. Usually, that’s when the playcalling goes off script and the offense has to execute on the fly. If that’s the case, then Wilson is not adapting to the unpracticed offense very well. That’s pretty limiting for a playcaller. I may be wrong, but if the Broncos cannot win except on plays pre-conceived by Payton and the staff, then the Wilson era is going to be even worse than previously imagined.
What makes this worse is the unspoken exodus of defensive talent the last three years. Denver was spoiled by having the best defensive mind in football to bolster their defense, but the fact is that they’ve done a poor job adding defensive help or retaining what they did have. Evero did a great job running many of Fangio’s concepts to complement his own, but Joseph is a different (I’d say worse) coach and, in all honesty, does not have as much to work with. There’s no second or third corner, no primary edge rusher (I’ve said it several times, but that Gregory deal was ill advised, and Clark does not add enough to move the needle), and the safety room is injured. That’s where Denver needs the most urgent help right now.
Nice book
Denver Saints
Denver’s receivers are nothing special – thus this guy will fit right in.