For years, Marvin Mims Jr. has run with the grace and rhythm of a piece of classical music. But for a year, any reporter’s mention of Mims to Sean Payton has mostly brought a broken record.
On multiple occasions in 2025, as Mims’ offensive role remained inconsistent despite uneven production from other Broncos receivers, Payton said he’s advocated internally for Mims to get more looks.
“He doesn’t need to convince us,” Payton said during Broncos minicamp. “I feel like each week when we go into game-planning, we’re always talking about certain things. And his name, I know, comes up from me. Every time we continue to ask him down the field, give him these opportunities, he takes advantage of it. He’s been very consistent. Itap just a matter of getting those touches.”
Payton’s reasoning, though, comes off as strange logic. It’s like how someone couldn’t like Subway when you’re technically making the sandwich you order. Payton creates the game plan and is the person most responsible for its outcome. He makes the sandwich.
And that sandwich has contained mere smatterings of Mims, since Denver traded up into the second round in 2023 to draft him.
“My big thing is, ‘You know what? Things might not go the way I want ‘em to go,'” Mims told The Post in Las Vegas in early December, after a Broncos win over the Raiders. “And thatap, pssh, 90% of players in the league. At the end of the day, when my number’s called, when my opportunity comes, I gotta be ready for it.”
The infrequency of those opportunities, though, leaves Mims and the Broncos in a complicated position as the final year of his rookie contract approaches in 2026. The league-wide open market for wide receivers is skyrocketing. And if Mims does, indeed, manage to see more looks in Payton’s system this fall, that could inflate his value as an upside receiver and All-Pro-caliber returner similar to Seattle’s Rashid Shaheed — who the Seahawks just extended for three years and $17 million annually in March.
“He does have some production as a receiver, and he’s young,” an NFL agent with knowledge of the wide-receiver market told The Post. “And I believe he’s only going to get better — or he should, with the quarterback and the system. But when you throw in the All-Pro return ability as well, that should drive his market up even more. I mean, a guy like that, depending on how he plays this year, he should definitely be in the eight digits (yearly) somewhere.”
Several NFL agents who spoke to The Post for background on the league-wide demand for receivers pinpointed Mims’ current value, indeed, upwards of $10 million per year on the open market. One agent with several wide-receiver clients projected Mims could command between $11 to $13 million annually, which could rise “depending on how well he does this season,” as the agent said.
Another agent said Shaheed’s deal — a Super Bowl champion who ran back the opening kickoff for a touchdown in the NFC Divisional round — could help Mims’ value rise. Shaheed has averaged 44 receiving yards per game across his career to Mims’ 25, but averaged just 20.9 after being traded to Seattle midseason in 2025.
“If he does what he did return-wise,” the agent said on Mims, “and jumps his numbers up to like 40 or 50 catches, now thatap — he should get a real nice, hefty raise.”
Any path to that leap, though, is muddied by the Broncos’ acquisition of Jaylen Waddle, a receiver with a similar frame and similar strengths to Mims. Payton loves Waddle’s ability as a true route runner, as Denver’s offensive staff has not always trusted Mims to run a full route tree. And Waddle’s sudden presence presents two inverse realities.
One: Mims’ production as a receiver could be tamped down enough in 2026 for a team-friendlier extension. Two: Would the Broncos want to pay Mims eight figures annually when Waddle is under contract through 2028?
Despite a clearly crowded stable of pass-catchers, Mims still has more untapped upside in Denver’s offense. The Broncos, for one, want to identify another reliable returner for kickoffs, which could preserve Mims’ body for punt returns and more offensive touches. Mims thrives when he can get the ball in motion, and he finished second among all NFL receivers in average yards of route separation (4.5) from defenders in 2025. And when called upon with injuries to Denver’s receiving corps in the playoffs, he put together his best two-game stretch of the season, with 12 catches for 155 yards.
That wasn’t enough, though, to prevent the Broncos from trading for Waddle to add an element of offensive “explosiveness,” as quarterback Bo Nix put it in mid-June. And Mims could well find himself in an unenviable middle ground, with his open-market value deflated by lack of receiving production but inflated into tricky spending territory for Denver.
“We’re going to get a chance to do special things this year,” Mims said in early May, when asked about any potential contract talks with the Broncos. “So I want to do that, have fun, and just enjoy. And after the season, or during the season — depending on my agent — we’ll see what happens.”
