{"id":340771,"date":"2025-09-04T10:41:15","date_gmt":"2025-09-04T10:41:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/340771\/"},"modified":"2025-09-04T10:41:15","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T10:41:15","slug":"broncos-receiver-marvin-mims-jr-embraces-being-the-man-in-year-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/340771\/","title":{"rendered":"Broncos receiver Marvin Mims Jr. embraces ‘being the man’ in Year 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

To watch Marvin Mims Jr.<\/a> glide, his trainer Margin Hooks suggests, is to watch a racehorse.<\/p>\n

Hooks is a country man, through and through. Texas-born. Southern-made. And in all his 25 years of coaching, Mims stands alone. Different than anyone, Hooks marveled. The gait, all big feet and long legs, is lethally effortless.<\/p>\n

Ever run behind a horse, Hooks asked? You can try. You can huff and puff until your lungs scream. Still, the horse will look like it\u2019s trotting.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen you look,\u201d Hooks described, \u201cand it\u2019s pulling away from you quickly. It\u2019s like \u2014 \u2018It\u2019s just jogging, though!’\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s Marvin.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eventually, Hooks realized he needed to just let the kid run \u201cthe Marvin way,\u201d as he puts it. But at first, Hooks didn\u2019t quite understand him. Many didn\u2019t. Mims would house a bag of potato chips and a Gatorade and then turn on the burners. And Hooks would yell at him because he just made it look too easy.<\/p>\n

Years later, Mims lounged on a bench bordering the Broncos\u2019 practice facility in July. He chuckled when told of Hooks\u2019 initial frustrations.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s something that\u2019s like \u2014 every coach, everybody says,\u201d Mims said with a grin. \u201c\u2018You don\u2019t look like you\u2019re moving.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cUntil you go out there and really see. And it\u2019s like, \u2018Marvin\u2019s runnin.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

In Year 3 in Denver, Marvin\u2019s finally running. The former Oklahoma wideout has never quite needed a tap. He\u2019s just needed his coaches to loosen the reins. He quickly dashed to All-Pro status as a returner in his first two years with the Broncos, but he was generally stuck with a handful of posts and go-balls in a limited route tree. Then, head coach Sean Payton came to him in November in Kansas City<\/a> with an idea to stick him in the backfield, and Mims\u2019 world opened up.<\/p>\n

This year, his role as a receiver is more \u201cwell-rounded,\u201d Mims described. It needs to be. At all of 23 years old, he\u2019s suddenly the second-most experienced Bronco in a young wideout room.<\/p>\n

\"DenverDenver Broncos wide receiver Marvin Mims Jr. (19) drives the ball down the field at Geha Field at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri on Nov. 10, 2024. The Kansas City Chiefs won 16-14 over the Denver Broncos during week 10 of the NFL season. (Photo by RJ Sangosti\/The Denver Post)<\/p>\n

Hooks, this offseason, has been trying to get Mims to understand: He\u2019s the guy, now. The \u201clast of the Mohicans,\u201d as Hooks put it, in a room that\u2019s seen a revolving door behind Courtland Sutton<\/a> at WR2 from Jerry Jeudy<\/a> to Josh Reynolds<\/a>. Mims racked up 503 receiving yards and six touchdowns in his second year after a late-season surge. Hooks believes he\u2019ll be a 1,000-yard receiver in 2025.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s not even that type of person with numbers,\u201d Hooks said. \u201cHe just wants more than what he\u2019s had before. And I know right now, he wants a lot more than he had before.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot, like, OK, a little bit, percentage-wise. Like, \u2018Nah. I\u2019m ready to be the man now.\u2019 So that\u2019s what he\u2019s been preparing for, physically and mentally.\u201d<\/p>\n

He\u2019s looked it during training camp. For two years in Denver, as Mims said, he didn\u2019t run most of the routes he\u2019s running now. Comebacks. Corners. Drags. End-arounds. Both a complete receiver and a gadget weapon, all in one.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s similar to how staff at Lone Star High used Mims back in high school, setting the single-season state record for receiving yards as a senior in Texas. Lone Star head coach Jeff Rayburn remembered, had a \u201cMarvin Rule.\u201d He\u2019d run 17 yards on a route instead of 15, his feet moving too quickly for regular timing. So, the Rangers would add 2 yards to the depth of any route he ran.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe just runs so effortlessly,\u201d Rayburn said. \u201cHe just glides.\u201d<\/p>\n

Effortlessness, though, implies a lack of effort \u2014 a perception he\u2019s fought against for years. At Oklahoma, Mims was the latest in a long lineage of Sooner wideouts who carried themselves like a dude, because they were. He came in a year after CeeDee Lamb<\/a> left. Lamb followed in the footsteps of Marquise Brown before him. And Brown followed Dede Westbrook before him.<\/p>\n

Five-star talent after five-star talent. Mims was expected to come with flash.<\/p>\n

That just \u201cwasn\u2019t me,\u201d Mims shrugged.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not like a hoo-rah guy,’\u201d Mims smiled. \u201cI\u2019m not going to post a lot on social media, all that stuff. I\u2019m just go to class, go to meetings, go to practice, do all you do.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I feel like at OU, that\u2019s when they got on me most about it. That\u2019s when it was more of, like, a weird thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

He racked up 1,083 yards as a junior at Oklahoma and was picked by the Broncos in the second round of the 2023 draft. Still, he came out of college with the perception he didn\u2019t have a fully-developed route tree<\/a>, a perception he\u2019s been fighting ever since. He was asked to run slants and choice routes as a Sooner, Rayburn defends. He\u2019s been asked to run deep in Denver or get his hands on returns.<\/p>\n

Now, Mims has officially been starting at the Z, as Broncos wideouts coach Keary Colbert has told Hooks. And Hooks has been trying to instill a certain \u201cswagger\u201d in his pupil.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s funny,\u201d Mims said, \u201cbecause he\u2019s been trying to get that outta me since, like, college.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DenverDenver Broncos wide receiver Marvin Mims Jr. (19) stretches during training camp at Broncos Park Powered by CommonSpirit in Centennial on Friday, July 25, 2025. (Photo by Andy Cross\/The Denver Post)<\/p>\n

It\u2019s never quite taken, because Mims blows past defenders with the urgency of a turtle despite the speed of a hare. Mims, though, feels it coming. You could \u201csee the confidence\u201d when he started getting touches midseason in 2024, as general manager George Paton said a few months back.<\/p>\n

When he first arrived in Denver, Mims recounted, Broncos safety and former OU teammate Delarrin Turner-Yell<\/a> issued a warning to staff and DBs alike on the wideout\u2019s cool gait. Don\u2019t fall for that. That dude\u2019s moving.<\/p>\n

There is nothing to control, now. The limits on his game are gone. There is only the horse, trotting free.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce he catches the ball, I look at those first three steps,\u201d Hooks said of offseason work with Mims. \u201cWhen he gets upfield. I can see, sometimes receivers, they have a pep in their step.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you know you\u2019re the man, you look different. That top horse moves different. Different than anybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

Receivers drafted under Sean Payton<\/p>\n

A number of wide receivers popped in their second year under Broncos head coach Sean Payton, but it took Mims until the second half of his second season to truly break out. Will that burst carry over into Year 3? Mobile users, tap here to see the chart<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Name, team
\nYear 2 (Rec-Yds- TD)
\nYear 3 (Rec-Yds- TD)<\/p>\n

Marvin Mims Jr., Denver
\n39-503-6
\nTBD<\/p>\n

Marques Colston, New Orleans
\n98-1202-11
\n47-760-5<\/p>\n

Robert Meachem, New Orleans
\n45-722-9
\n44-638-5<\/p>\n

Kenny Stills, New Orleans
\n63-931-3
\n27-440-3<\/p>\n

Brandin Cooks, New Orleans
\n84-1138-9
\n78-1173-8<\/p>\n

Michael Thomas, New Orleans
\n104-1245-5
\n125-1405-9<\/p>\n

Tre\u2019Quan Smith, New Orleans
\n18-234-5
\n34-448-4<\/p>\n

Want more Broncos news? Sign up for the Broncos Insider to get all our NFL analysis.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"To watch Marvin Mims Jr. glide, his trainer Margin Hooks suggests, is to watch a racehorse. Hooks is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":340772,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2062],"tags":[232,1121,564,1270,3897,231,258,2426,7,1331,1272,2827,7250,929,6106,926,6,1813,9],"class_list":{"0":"post-340771","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-denver-broncos","8":"tag-broncos","9":"tag-ceedee-lamb","10":"tag-colorado","11":"tag-courtland-sutton","12":"tag-delarrin-turner-yell","13":"tag-denver","14":"tag-denver-broncos","15":"tag-denverbroncos","16":"tag-football","17":"tag-front-range","18":"tag-george-paton","19":"tag-jerry-jeudy","20":"tag-josh-reynolds","21":"tag-latest-headlines","22":"tag-lincoln-riley","23":"tag-more-broncos-news","24":"tag-nfl","25":"tag-sean-payton","26":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115145611209242624","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340771","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=340771"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340771\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/340772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=340771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=340771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=340771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}