If you’re going to play with your food, Sean Payton, why not make it filet mignon?
The Broncos are 6-0 this season when Marvin Mims has carried the ball at least once. They’re 11-3 in the regular season when that’s happened over the last two years. They’re 3-1 since September 2024 when Mims has received multiple carries.
It’s all hands on deck, and this ship is wading into Super Bowl waters, just like Sunshine Sean said it would.
J.K. Dobbins, your offensive MVP for Weeks 1-10, is lost for the season. You’re replacing those touches by committee from here on out. A dash of RJ Harvey. A smidgen of Jaleel McLaughlin, now your best downhill, between-the-tackles runner by default.
But might we humbly suggest replacing a pinch of Tyler Badie with more pinches of Mims out of the backfield?
Or Mims out of the slot?
Or Mims out of anywhere?
You can fake a run game over the last seven games of the regular season. You know when you can’t fake it? Against Buffalo or Baltimore in mid-January. Even at home with 80,000 Broncomaniacs at your back, screaming to Mile High Heaven.
“(When) I get the ball. I want to make the most out of it,” Mims told me this past summer. “That’s something I pride myself in, is being an explosive playmaker.
“So being a ‘gadget’ guy is a good thing; when someone (ESPN) tells you you’re the NFL’s best at something. It’s something that you kind of raise your ears at … but, yeah, I mean, when I see ‘gadget’ (player) I think, ‘explosive playmaker.’ Whether it’s in the return game, offense, screen game, deep pass, give me the ball. I want to make the most out of it.”
Want to make the most of what’s left of this offense after the bye? Feature more of Mims in it.
The ex-Oklahoma star appeared on 15 snaps against the Chiefs — just 24% of the offensive plays. Fullback Adam Prentice (19 snaps) got more run with the first-team offense against Kansas City than Mims, a two-time Pro Bowl return man.
Yes, some of that was choosing discretion over valor. Mims can’t scare anybody from injured reserve. He’s coming off concussion protocol.
Although by the time the Broncos take the field at Washington on Nov. 30, he’ll be four weeks removed from the ding he took against Dallas on Oct. 26.
That said, do you want to win a Super Bowl or not?
No skill player left at Payton’s disposal is as singularly explosive as Mims. And he reminded us all why against KC with another special-teams masterpiece — 101 punt return yards, a new single-game high, and the most by a Bronco since Trindon Holliday’s 121 in 2013. Mims’ 70-yard runback in the first quarter was another career best, putting the defending AFC champions on their heels at the Chiefs’ 21-yard line.
He’s averaging 11.0 yards per touch from scrimmage since he entered the league. Badie is averaging 7.0 yards. McLaughlin is averaging 4.6 yards. If you don’t want to trust your eyes, fine. Trust the math.
Payton knows how to do quirky, how to improvise when injuries wreck his best-laid plans. In New Orleans, he made Taysom Hill the archetype modern “gadget” weapon. The former BYU star became a 6-foot-2 utility piece. From 2019-2023, Hill bounced between tight end, receiver and quarterback, depending on whatever Sean had cooked up. Hill recorded five straight seasons with Payton in which he threw at least six passes, ran the ball at least 27 times, and picked up at least four receptions. Over those years, Hill averaged 456.8 passing yards, 392.6 rushing yards and 150.4 receiving yards per season.
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Payton is the NFL’s Baron Frankenstein, the mind of a mad scientist merged with Bill Parcell’s crusty soul. So why does it feel as if the only guy who can truly stop Mims with a head of steam in the open field is his own head coach?
“For me, it’s like a daily race,” Mims continued. “Just going in every day, working hard. Because with me, I’m a big person (about) wasting time. I hate wasting time. I hate when someone wastes my time.”
“That sounds like your boss,” I said.
“If I’m going to go in there and I’m going to lift, I’m going to practice, I’m going to go ahead and give (it) my all,” he continued. “Because at the end of the day, if I’m not giving my all, I’m wasting my own time. What am I even doing here? So that’s been a big thing for me. So I don’t really do goals — just every day, every second, I just want to do the right thing. And then, from that point on, you’ll reap what you sow.”
This team is on the brink of sowing something special. What good is a killer gadget if you leave it on your tool belt every Sunday?
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