After a disastrous 2022 season, the Denver Broncos look to forget the Nathaniel Hackett era. New head coach Sean Payton brings a new culture and high expectations. Payton demands a winning team in year one and expects a playoff appearance. With the stakes a mile-high, and limited draft capital to work with, Payton had to make the most of his selections. Despite having two solid starters already, the Broncos moved up in the draft to take Oklahoma’s wide receiver, Marvin Mims, in the second round. Sean Payton’s first selection running the show was an offensive weapon that he’ll look to utilize right away. Could we see another rookie wide receiver take over in fantasy football this year?
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2023 Fantasy Football Player Profile: Marvin Mims
Marvin Out an Opportunity
Marvin Mims may be a rookie, but he’ll be carvin’ out a role for the Denver Broncos early in the 2023 NFL season. A sudden burst of injuries has galloped Mims up the depth chart. Tim Patrick suffered another season-ending injury and 2020 first-round wide receiver, Jerry Jeudy, sustained a hamstring injury that’ll sideline him for “several weeks”. On top of these two, Javonte Williams is coming off a major knee injury and will likely be eased back into action. Marvin Mims was already trending towards being a starter in three wide receiver sets, but now he’ll be a full-time starter from the start at least until Jeudy returns to action.
Outside of the injuries, the Broncos have 180 targets open from a season ago. That’s 33% of their targets available from last year. Courtland Sutton and Greg Dulcich should be the top two target earners to begin the season with Mims not far behind. The upside is there to be a weekly flex player early on and at his current ADP, Marvin Mims is a steal you can grab in the last few rounds of your draft.
The Tyler Lockett Comparison
Starting with the obvious, Marvin Mims and Tyler Lockett both have insanely identical builds. Mims stands tall at 5’11” and a whopping 183 lbs. Lockett’s draft profile registered him at 5’10” and 182 lbs. If their height and weight weren’t enough, they both ran similar 40-yard dashes as well. Lockett ran a 4.4 while Mims’ time just barely bested it at 4.38. They may be tiny wide receivers, but the two also earned Big-12 degrees in route running body control, and separation.
The Russell Wilson-Tyler Lockett Connection was a good duo for the #Seahawks
With the sudden injuries for #BroncosCountry , can Wilson find that magic with rookie WR Marvin Mims? pic.twitter.com/5DMLBi2Z49
— Austin Thomas (@Austin_Thomas18) August 25, 2023
The Russell Wilson-Tyler Lockett connection was a thing of beauty. They made impossible throws and catches on a weekly routine and even became famous on an elevator. They were simply “automatic”. During the duo’s tenure, Lockett started off a little rocky as he competed with Doug Baldwin for targets, but by the second half of his career, he emerged as Wilson’s favorite target. Lockett had fantasy finishes of WR16, WR13, WR8, and WR16 the last four years together. Mims has a long horseback journey to reach this status, but the comparisons are uncanny. At WR83, Mims is a bucking bronco ready for the 2023 rodeo and to throw down with the competition.
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