Marvin

Mims

Mims had topped 30 yards receiving only twice during the regular season, but he showed up big when the Broncos needed him most. Both Pat Bryant (concussion) and Troy Franklin (hamstring) left this game early, and Mims stepped up to fill their shoes. His biggest catch was a go-ahead score late in the fourth quarter. After the Bills had to bring in fourth-string cornerback Dane Jackson, Mims burned him on a corner route and hauled in a tough over-the-shoulder catch in the end zone. It’s unclear if either of Franklin or Bryant will be cleared to play next week, so Mims may be relied on heavily again, but with Bo Nix out for the remainder of the season, it’s hard to get excited about this Broncos passing attack.

Mims put up 10 yards last week as well, though it took him three catches to do it instead of two. The once-intriguing speedster requires explosive gains and/or touchdowns to be anything more than a boom-bust WR5. He delivered neither this week and finishes accordingly in the fantasy box score. The Broncos are on bye next week.

Mims ran the second-most routes on the Broncos with Pat Bryant sidelined this week. He didn’t do much with the extra opportunities, logging an 11 percent target share and another unusable fantasy score. Mims hasn’t hit 30 receiving yards in a game since Week 7. He is not on the fantasy radar heading into Week 18.

Mims also had one carry for three yards. He saw his usual offensive usage, running 15 pass routes on 51 Bo Nix drop backs and seeing a few designed looks. That Pat Bryant went down in the fourth quarter with a neck injury probably won’t matter for Mims, whose value lies in punt and kick returns.

Payton added that if this were a playoff game, Payton would probably be playing. But this is management with the hope of getting things in shape for Bryant down the line. Marvin Mims will find more snaps in Week 15 and both Troy Franklin and Courtland Sutton should get a slight workload upgrade.

Mims has just four targets since October 19. The meaning of “more” would appear almost limitless when weighed against that. Still, for those of you holding on in dynasty leagues as the third-year receiver fell behind Pat Bryant, this could be the little bit of hope you needed to realize “wait, Marvin Mims was still on my roster?”

Mims’ receiving role is almost a non-factor, but the shifty wide receiver did manage to return a second-quarter punt for a 48-yard touchdown, marking his first such trip to the end zone. Mims also rushed once for two yards. He does not need to be rostered in re-draft leagues.

Career highs in catches, targets, and yards are following Bryant’s somewhat expanded role since Week 5. He’s played at least 30 snaps in every game since then, and the Chiefs let him get free for a 48-yarder that momentarily landed Bryant in concussion protocol before he returned later in the game. Heading into the bye, we don’t think Bryant is necessarily a good bet to explode on to the scene in the fantasy playoffs, but he’s building a case that it’s in the range of outcomes. He’s banished Marvin Mims (15 snaps in return from a concussion) to an ancillary gadget role.

He’ll try to get his WR3 role or a split back from Pat Bryant today. Inactive for the Broncos are CB Patrick Surtain (pectoral), LB Alex Singleton (illness), LB Jonah Elliss (hamstring), T Geron Christian, DL Jordan Jackson, and DE Sai’vion Jones.

The Broncos get their erratically productive wide receiver back after a two-game absence. The Chiefs’ defense is very good, and Mims is hardly reliable, but this should be a fantasy-friendly game environment. Consider Mims a volatile FLEX option, reliant on a big play.