KJ Hamler’s speed and elusiveness made him an explosive kick returner at Penn State. He averaged 23.5 yards per kickoff return with the Nittany Lions, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s automatically set to return kicks for the Broncos.
Denver was pleased with Diontae Spencer’s production last year (29.1 yards per kickoff return) and he was named a third alternate for the Pro Bowl.
And if Hamler is as good of a receiver as the Broncos hope he is, they won’t want to risk him being injured on a special teams play.
“I haven’t seen many players over the years once they develop into a really good player and a primary starter do it on a full-time basis around the league,” coach Vic Fangio said on April 24. “We’ll see how that goes.
“If he develops into where he’s getting a lot of playing time on offense then maybe it won’t happen, but if he’s not getting a lot of playing time on offense early on then maybe he can be a returner.”
Denver knows that Hamler is an explosive returner — GM John Elway called him a “great returner” — but as Fangio noted, he might become an important part of the offense. There could be certain situations where Hamler is a returner, but he probably won’t be the main returner.
“We like Spence as our returner too,” Fangio said. “It will take a lot for us to not still have Spence to do that too. We feel good about our return game with both KJ and Spence.”
