The Denver Broncos did not go looking for a new receiver when Pat Bryant’s ankle sent him to injured reserve. It went back to the one it already trusts.
On Friday, the Broncos announced they had signed Lil’Jordan Humphrey off the practice squad, restoring a 6-foot-4, 225-pound frame that Sean Payton has kept in his orbit since their shared years in New Orleans and that Bo Nix has already used as a scoring option when the rest of the field compresses.
Bryant will miss at least four games after the sprain he suffered in the loss at San Francisco, with a return window that opens in Week 9 at Carolina.
Through four game, he had become a real piece of the rotation, with nine catches for 133 yards and a touchdown. His absence leaves Courtland Sutton, Jaylen Waddle, Troy Franklin and Marvin Mims as the healthy starters and leaves Humphrey, 28, as the veteran who knows the call sheet and the quarterback.
That familiarity is the point. Humphrey went undrafted out of Texas in 2019 and has never been a volume receiver. His career line sits at 75 catches for 926 yards and eight touchdowns.
In 2024 with Denver, he posted his busiest season, 31 receptions for 293 yards. Last year, after a brief stop with the Giants, he caught nine passes for 101 yards and a score in seven games with the Broncos, then added a 29-yard touchdown in the Divisional Round against Buffalo.
The numbers are modest. The usage is not. Payton has repeatedly treated him as a role player’s role player, the body you motion into the flat, stack on the goal line, or throw to when a smaller receiver is blanketed.
For Nix, that profile is more useful than the catch totals suggest. Through four games the second-year quarterback is 81 of 135 for 819 yards, five touchdowns and three interceptions, with an average depth of target that still lives in the short and intermediate game.
Denver is 2-2 and heads to Los Angeles to face the Chargers on Sunday.
When the offense stalls between the 20s, a 225-pound target who can box out a nickel and present a window above the linebackers gives Nix a different answer than another slot crosser.
Humphrey is not going to replace Bryant’s early-season production snap for snap.
He is the contingency Payton has already cashed in before: a towering red-zone and third-down option who has scored with this quarterback and does not need a long introduction to the offense.
He has bounced between the practice squad and the active roster more than once this season. Friday’s promotion is the latest reminder that Denver keeps him close for a reason.
Until Bryant is eligible again, the Broncos’ passing game has its big-bodied weapon back in the huddle.
