Denver Broncos: John Elway confirms Tim Patrick will come off IR

The Denver Broncos like what they’ve seen from wide receiver Tim Patrick on the field, so they will apparently be bringing him back from IR when he’s ready.

The Denver Broncos have traded Emmanuel Sanders to the San Francisco 49ers, leaving a fairly large void at the wide receiver position.

According to general manager John Elway, that void will eventually be filled by Tim Patrick, an undrafted free agent in 2017 who came to the Broncos late in the 2017 season (practice squad) after spending time with Baltimore and San Francisco.

He played every game for the team in 2018 and made some huge plays, including big plays on game-winning drives against the Oakland Raiders and Los Angeles Chargers.

Patrick’s size (6-foot-4, 212 pounds) will give the Broncos another big target to throw the ball to, but he’s a completely different style of receiver than Sanders, who is obviously a smaller but well-rounded receiver in terms of speed, route-running, quickness, and hands.

There’s also the fact that Patrick is currently on injured reserve and won’t be eligible to play after week nine. The Broncos have a bye in week 10, so the earliest Patrick would return to the field is week 11, and it seems like that’s the plan, according to Elway.

The Broncos’ GM was asked about how the Broncos replace their former WR1.

"“DaeSean has got to step up. Then we have some young guys that have to step up. Tim Patrick, obviously it’s a little bit early, but Tim Patrick will be back after the bye. We’re looking forward to him coming back. These young guys have to step up. Tight end-wise, we have to step up and be productive. And we have to the run football. We’re going to have to make up for it. Obviously, Emmanuel is a big part of the offense. It’s Courtland’s room now. He’s going to step up, too. We have to make up for a loss like that in Emmanuel.”Broncos GM John Elway (quotes via Broncos PR)"

It’s the first we’ve heard anything officially one way or another about one of the Broncos’ players coming off injured reserve this season (they have four guys eligible to come off, but can only pick two, and you can read our case for each guy here) although the news of Patrick coming off IR is confirmation of rumors that have been swirling for the past week or so.

If Patrick is activated off IR, it means the Broncos will only be able to pick one of Drew Lock, Jake Butt, or Theo Riddick in addition.

Ugh.

As much as we’d love to see all three of those guys come back, it’s not possible and with Patrick being picked as one of the guys to come back, it means we won’t likely see Jake Butt or Theo Riddick this year.

Because the Broncos are going to activate Drew Lock, right?

I’m not so sure anymore, and that frustrates me to no end.

If the Broncos were bringing back Lock, why not just say so? Why would we be dancing around it? According to Mike Klis, the team is seriously still in deliberation mode because they feel they can win their next two games — at Indianapolis and at home against Cleveland.

That’s fine and good, but not expediting Lock’s return to the field is one of the worst decisions this team could make. The Broncos seem to be in no rush to usher in the future of the team, and at the same time content to suffer through the mediocrity and downright apathy we’ve seen from Joe Flacco.

I — for one — am tired of it.

The only way for the Broncos to get fans even remotely okay with the idea of not activating Drew Lock is by winning a bunch of games, and they couldn’t win at home when it mattered most against a Chiefs team without Patrick Mahomes for the majority of the time.

Again, it’s highly frustrating because the core cause for everything that went wrong in that game was Joe Flacco, although there was plenty of blame to go around for the Broncos.

As far as Tim Patrick goes, I can’t wait to see that guy back out on the field. He always plays hard, and he’s willing to mix it up with Jon Gruden, which I think everyone can admire.