Late in the first half Sunday against the Dolphins, the Broncos needed points. Badly.<\/p>\n
What looked like a promising sequence turned to disaster when Denver failed to capitalize on taking over at the Miami 33-yard line after a fourth-down stop. The Dolphins scored to make it 28-10, then scored again 22 seconds later after the first of two Courtland Sutton fumbles.<\/p>\n
Turns out, Miami wasn\u2019t done scoring. Not by a long shot.<\/p>\n
In this moment, though, in need a big play to at least try to get back in the game, Denver and quarterback Russell Wilson turned to rookie wide receiver Marvin Mims Jr.<\/p>\n
Wilson forced a ball into double coverage toward Mims, who ran a double move toward the goal line. It got knocked down, but Mims has made more than one contested catch so far already in his young career. He did it on a 38-yard post route earlier in the game, in fact.<\/p>\n
The next play, head coach Sean Payton ratcheted down the degree of difficulty. Mims and Jerry Jeudy ran crossing routes past each other and Mims came wide open, taking a pass from Wilson 30 yards to the Miami 6-yard line.<\/p>\n
The Broncos ultimately settled for a field goal, but the back-to-back targets for Mims represented Denver learning what the viewing public figured out simultaneously: Get the ball in the rookie\u2019s hands, and good things tend to follow.<\/p>\n
\u201cI see a very mature rookie,\u201d right guard Quinn Meinerz told reporters Monday. \u201cHe\u2019s been doing a lot of things really well. He\u2019s really fast. We\u2019ve all seen how fast that guy is. He came into this offense and has found his role and his job and he\u2019s been executing at a really high level.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m really happy for him because it\u2019s hard as a rookie to find success and find your place, so I\u2019m happy and excited for him that he\u2019s been able to do that so early.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mims\u2019 role so far has been to play limited snaps on offense but make big plays when he\u2019s on the field.<\/p>\n
Mims had two short catches in the opener against Las Vegas. In two games since, his five catches have gone for 60, 53, 38, 30 and five yards. The two passes targeted to him that didn\u2019t end in completions in that span: The double-move late in the first half and another deep post on which he\u2019d run clean past the Dolphins secondary two possessions earlier.<\/p>\n
Mims, who missed part of the offseason program and the early part of training camp due to separate hamstring injuries, said he\u2019s getting more comfortable every time he\u2019s on the field in a game.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s kind of weird, especially from my perspective as a rookie,\u201d he said. \u201cYou go through rookie camp, you go through OTAs and training camp. You\u2019re playing the same people almost every day. The defense starts to pick up on routes, starts to pick up on concepts and you\u2019re like, \u2018It\u2019s not really working like this,\u2019 or it\u2019s not as clean as you want it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you get into games, it\u2019s kind of a fresh start.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite just seven catches and nine targets through three games, he\u2019s leading the Broncos with 195 receiving yards.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven growing up, they say games are going to be easier than practice,\u201d Mims said. \u201cMy thing is really just seeing those deep routes come open and then also getting the ability to really go up and make plays. In the NFL, in practice and stuff, you\u2019re not going to risk your body around too much just because there are fewer people on the team and all that. That\u2019s been a good thing for me just getting used to the NFL game, the NFL schedule, all of the position groupings. We added more this week so we\u2019re just going to keep growing. With new plays will come different routes.<\/p>\n
\u201cBasically just waiting on the game-to-game, week-to-week game plan and go on from there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Making big plays on offense is nothing new to Mims. He averaged 22 and 20.1 yards per catch in his final two seasons at Oklahoma.<\/p>\n
One thing he didn\u2019t do at OU: Run a kickoff back for a touchdown. He checked that off the list in the fourth quarter against the Dolphins, adding a 99-yard return touchdown to the 45-yard punt return he generated against Washington the week earlier.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s enough to put him third in the NFL in all-purpose yards through three weeks at 429, trailing only Minnesota star receiver Justin Jefferson (458) and New Orleans\u2019 Rashid Shaheed (450). He\u2019s done it on 15 total touches (seven catches, three rushes, one punt return, four kick returns) compared to 25 for Shaheed (also a receiver\/return man) and 27 for Jefferson (all catches).<\/p>\n
So, will Mims play more than 15-17 offensive snaps Sunday against the Bears? He\u2019s not sweating it either way.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s kind of with the coaching and different personnel groups,\u201d he said. \u201cWe basically work in all of our receivers who suit up, so it\u2019s just personnel groups and the situation of the game, situation of the downs, whether it\u2019s third-and-long, first-and-10. Different plays and different situations.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really all up to the coaches and what formations and personnel groups they decide to put on the field at certain times.\u201d<\/p>\n