Going from Zero's to Hero's

The days of looking for the Triandos Lukes, the Darius Watts and the Charlie Adams of the world are over.  Bronco fans would know those names, these are names of players that were drafted by Mike Shanahan that never panned out at Wide Receiver.  In recent memory, Shanahan lucked out with the drafting of Brandon Marshall and Eddie Royal.  They have since moved on. 

Josh McD moved in and did do Denver a favor.  He drafted Demaryius Thomas and Eric Decker.  Up to this point, the two have inconsistent in their first two years in the league.  They have shown glimpses of stardom as well as moments that leaves you scratching your asking "how did you not make that catch!"

Well, the two players have some work to do prove themselves, but this is the year that both players will break out and the Broncos will have a talented tandem like they did in 2008 with Marshall and Royal, where the two combined for almost 200 catches.

Demaryius Thomas has all the physical tools to be every bit as good as Marshall, they are almost the same physical specimen, standing at over 6'3" and around 230 pounds and both running in the 4.5's for their 40 yard dash.  Most recent example of Thomas' ability is the longest catch made in post-season history in which Thomas caught the 80 yard game winning touchdown against the Pittsburgh Steelers last season.

Then we also have Eric Decker, possession receiver that has the ability at times to put in second gear and rack up the YAC (yards after catch) at times.  He showed these abilities in college while playing at the University of Minnesota, but his biggest problem coming into the NFL was whether he would be durable. Decker was coming off a lower leg injury   He struggled to catch on with the offense his first season in the NFL, but there was also no doubt that this kid could play.  Th Broncos were just waiting for him to be able, like all rookies and other young players, to adapt to the speed of the game.

Last season, both players had the pleasure of playing with Tim Tebow as their QB.  Their numbers were down and too many times did we see the two guys drop catches.  Sometimes it could have been blamed on Tebow for under or over throwing his receivers, but there was times as well when Tebow also put the ball right between the numbers and the ball would be dropped.

Last season, Thomas and Decker had some alarming numbers pop up.  Thomas dropped 13.51% of his passes going his way, while Decker was good for 16.98%.  These are some of the worst rates in the NFL.  Granted that, yes, not very many passes came their way so any few passes dropped would result in a big jump in the percentage.  But one dropped pass is one dropped pass too many.

Enter Peyton Manning and his work ethic.  He has come into Denver and changed the culture from day 1.  The mentality has completely changed with the locker room, reinventing the idea on what it takes to be winners at the end of the day.  During the offseason, the Denver Post had reported that Manning and Decker, along with a few other fellow Bronco players met up at a local high school to build chemistry to be on the same page from the get go.  It appears that is happening with the two already in the early stages of training camp.  In the first day of full pads, the Denver Post was able to see some of the action take place and this is what they saw in the rapport between Manning and Decker

"In the first day in full pads, it was still a skill position player who put on a show. Wide receiver Eric Decker showed that the extra work he did with quarterback Peyton Manning in the offseason is paying off, with two of the best plays of the day. In one-on-one drills, Decker got a step on star corner Champ Bailey, and bobbled a deep pass from Manning before making a diving catch. Later, in team drills, Decker caught another deep pass from Manning, this one on the right sideline. He was pushed out of bounds after a long gain."

Thomas this offseason rededicated himself as well, being drafted in the first round, he wants to prove that he is worth the pick.  In doing so, he spent time working out with fellow Georgia Tech standout and All-Pro Wideout Calvin Johnson.  Having been a player that has understood that his game needed work, including his technique as a wide receiver and route running.  Thomas had came out and said that he needed to improve.  During his first couple years, he admitted that he was just asked essentially to run "GO" routes up the sideline and try to beat the defender down the field.  With Manning in house, that sort of play will not fly.  We know that with Manning that if you start to slack in your game, he will have no problem going to the next guy to throw to, just look at the players that were pulled in over the years aside from Reggie Wayne, Marvin Harrison and Brandon Stokley that caught passes from Manning.
 
Knowing how wide receivers act, the two should be ecstatic due to the fact that they have QB that can get the ball to the, meaning more numbers on the stat sheet, and more numbers in contract talks.  Having said that, I want to introduce you to the next "Marvin Harrison" and "Reggie Wayne" in Eric Decker and Demaryius Thomas.