Marvin Mims Jr. had already served as a successful decoy. Now, it was time to be the main character.
The Denver Broncos faced a third-and-10 from their 33-yard line midway through the second quarter of Sunday’s game against the Atlanta Falcons. Mims, the second-year wide receiver, was lined up to the left of quarterback Bo Nix in the backfield. Earlier, on Denver’s first touchdown play, Mims had motioned into the backfield just before the snap and faked a handoff from Nix. Tight end Nate Adkins began blocking as though he were sealing the edge for Mims to get outside to the right. Then, Adkins leaked into the middle of the field and came wide open to catch a 12-yard scoring pass from Nix.
This time, Mims began in the slot and then moved into a stationary spot in the backfield next to the quarterback. At the snap, Mims flared to his left toward the flat. But as Falcons outside linebacker Lorenzo Carter moved horizontally to account for that area, Mims quickly turned vertical. With the two Broncos wide receivers on the left side having cleared out the coverage with a pair of deep routes, Mims was wide open in the vacated space for a 37-yard catch-and-run that helped set up Denver’s second touchdown.
Mims got loose! 💨
📺: FOX | @marvindmims pic.twitter.com/g1gd1jyPdR
— Denver Broncos (@Broncos) November 17, 2024
Those two plays provided a snapshot of the evolving role coach Sean Payton and his staff have imagined in recent weeks for Mims and the stress it can cause for opponents.
“It’s a lot of fun giving defenses different looks,” Mims said in the locker room after the Broncos’ 38-6 victory, which matched Denver’s highest offensive scoring output in a game since 2014. “You can tell they don’t know what to do sometimes when I’m back there in the running back position.”
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The Broncos selected Mims late in the second round of the 2023 NFL Draft, and his speed was immediately impactful. He made the Pro Bowl as a returner during his rookie season and flashed as a deep threat early in the campaign. But finding Mims a more substantive role as a receiver has been a challenge for Payton and his staff. When the Broncos traded wide receiver Jerry Jeudy in March, Payton hinted that Mims could shift into more of a high-volume role. Instead, Mims had only seven receptions (on 15 targets) through the season’s first nine games.
As the Broncos prepared to visit the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 10, Payton challenged himself and his staff to get creative in an attempt to replicate on offense the traits Mims has showcased as a returner.
“One of the things that we are tasked to do sometimes is, ‘Are we missing anything from an attribution (standpoint)?’” Payton said. “When you watch him return, you see him put his foot in the ground and you see his speed. Just talking to the offensive staff, (I said), ‘Let’s come up with a tag that puts him (in the backfield). … We’ve seen this before with different types of players, whether it’s been Deebo (Samuel Sr.) or Kordell (Stewart). He gives us a different speed element. There’s certain running schemes that he would be very comfortable with.”
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Mims isn’t a physical runner like Samuel, the San Francisco 49ers wide receiver who has carried the ball at least 27 times every season since 2019 and is used frequently on inside runs. The Broncos aren’t going to subject their 5-foot-11, 182-pound receiver to that kind of punishment.
“I always joke with the running backs that I need to gain some weight,” said Mims, who lined up in the backfield at times during his college career.
Still, the offense can create plenty of wrinkles with its Mims package. He has rushed six times for 21 yards across the past two games — before that his only carry, for 17 yards, came on a jet-sweep play against the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 5 — and his presence as an outside runner is testing the elasticity of defenses. Payton is clearly enjoying the experimental phase of this new project.
“What’s interesting is when you send him in the game with two other receivers, a tight end and a fullback,” Payton said. “You think you’re in base, but you’re getting a nickel defense because they’re looking at it as three receivers, a tight end and (Michael) Burton is playing halfback. It was just creating a package that some weeks we can expand on. Just trying to find ways to get him touches within the framework of what we do. I told him last week, ‘You’re not changing positions,’ but there are some things that I think he can help us with, and we’ll try to look at it weekly.”
The new role for Mims has highlighted Payton’s ability to dress up plays in various ways, even when they are designed to finish the same way. There was no better example than Denver’s two screen-pass touchdowns Sunday, the first of which went to Mims late in the second quarter. The Broncos lined up in 11 personnel — three receivers, one running back, one tight end — with Mims beginning the play as the far outside receiver on the right side. He motioned toward the center of the field, then halted at the snap to take a quick pass from Nix. He followed a wall of blockers from there for a 14-yard touchdown.
.@marvindmims weaving into the end zone 💨
📺: FOX pic.twitter.com/ZN8rjR5HCU
— Denver Broncos (@Broncos) November 17, 2024
When the Broncos returned to the red zone on their first drive of the third quarter, the Falcons knew what to expect. The problem was they didn’t know what the delivery mechanism would be.
This time, the Broncos were in 21 personnel with Javonte Williams and Michael Burton in the backfield and Courtland Sutton and Troy Franklin bunched to the right. At the snap, Burton darted to his right to serve as the lead blocker for Franklin, who took one step forward at the snap and then jumped back to take the screen pass from Nix. The result was the same: a speedy receiver finding the spaces in a well-blocked defense to reach the end zone.
Another one! Bo Nix and the @Broncos are rolling 🔥
📺: #ATLvsDEN on FOX
📱: https://t.co/waVpO8ZBqG pic.twitter.com/f6hIDtVnCO— NFL (@NFL) November 17, 2024
“You know screens are coming. Jimmy (Lake, Atlanta’s defensive coordinator) is yelling to me on the headset, ‘Screens are coming,’” said Falcons linebacker Kaden Elliss, who played the first three years of his career for the Payton-coached New Orleans Saints. “We’re telling everybody screens are coming. The thing about Sean Payton is he makes it look different every time. There’s not a clear giveaway. He’s probably the best play caller I’ve ever gone against.”
A play caller who appears to be enjoying the hunt for new wrinkles inside an offense that is improving by the week.
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(Photo: David Eulitt / Getty Images)
