Denver Broncos: Should team be concerned with K.J. Hamler’s drops?
The Denver Broncos have eyes on having one of the league’s best receiving groups in 2020.
After Courtland Sutton put his name on the NFL map in 2019, the Broncos followed that by selecting wide receivers in each of the first two rounds of the 2020 draft. Looking to help the maturation process of Drew Lock as much as possible, the Broncos nabbed Jerry Jeudy and K.J. Hamler in the first two rounds back in April.
Jeudy was considered by many to be a steal with the No. 15 overall pick, but the Hamler pick has gotten just as much, if not, even more, attention.
After taking a wide receiver in the first round, no one was really looking for the Broncos to get another one just about 30 picks later. But with Hamler still on the board, the team could not pass him up.
Hamler possesses exceptional speed and once he has the ball in his hands, he can make something special happen. In addition, he is an exceptional route-runner and can contribute as a kick returner.
There was talk around draft time that Hamler might even be able to slip into the back end of the first round. One thing that likely prevented that was his history of drops at Penn State.
Last season alone, Hamler dropped 12 passes on 68 throws that were deemed catchable. That is a ridiculous drop rate of 17.6 percent.
The Broncos clearly were not too bothered by those figures when the drafted him, but should it be a concern going into his rookie season? Sure, he’s incredibly fast, but you have to catch the ball first.
Not long ago, Broncos fans knew how good Demaryius Thomas was and how important he was to the team, but he committed some of the most frustrating drops in recent memory. Fans of the Nittany Lions can likely relate with Hamler.
The Broncos feel that Hamler can fix the issue if he’s willing to work on it. The team feels that his drops are due more to a lack of concentration than they are an issue with his hands or technique. In other words, it’s something that can be coached. Hamler knows how fast he is in the open field and sometimes, he’s trying to make a play but forgetting to look the football into his hands.
That’s basic fundamentals.
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The Broncos believed that the upside was just too much to pass on with this player and that his drops are a minor speedbump in his development as a professional.