Believe it or not, the Denver Broncos, in their 60-year history, have never had a wide receiver compete for the team and later get inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Nevertheless, there have been quite a few talented wideouts come through the organization.
Here are the five greatest receivers in Broncos franchise history.
5. Haven Moses (1972-81)
The first name to get mentioned is Haven Moses, a contributor to the Broncos in their early days who joined the Mile High City club five years into his NFL career but would stay with Denver until his retirement.
Moses was a ninth overall selection by the Buffalo Bills in the 1968 AFL Draft, spending four-plus seasons in western New York, posting several solid years.
Then Moses was traded in Oct. 1972 to the Broncos, where he would play for nine and half years, cementing his status as one of Denver's best receivers. Moses was a two-time Pro Bowl selection (only once with the Broncos), but he was a consistent target in the passing game for the team, especially during the Craig Morton years, which saw Moses be a part of the first three playoff-bound Broncos squads, including the Super Bowl XII runner-up one.
After Moses' retirement, he was honored as a member of Denver's “Ring of Fame”—the second receiver in franchise history with the distinction. He holds the ninth-most receiving hards for the Broncos (seventh-most for just receivers) and tied for fifth-most receiving touchdowns.
4. Ed McCaffrey (1995-2003)
Next up is a fellow Stanford alumnus like former Broncos star quarterback John Elway, Ed McCaffrey, who would wind up winning a few Super Bowls with the Hall of Fame gunslinger.
Like Moses, McCaffrey didn't start his career with the Broncos. A third-round selection by the New York Giants in the 1991 draft, McCaffrey spent three underwhelming seasons in the NFC East before competing for the San Francisco 49ers in their Super Bowl XXIX winning season as an underutilized wideout. Then, McCaffrey brought that big game experience to the Broncos, spending the next nine years of his playing career in Denver.
McCaffrey became a mainstay in the passing game, alongside Rod Smith and Shannon Sharpe, as a target for Elway, becoming a Pro Bowler in 1998 en route to the second of two consecutive Super Bowl championships by Denver. Now a college football head coach, the 51-year-old McCaffrey possesses the fifth-most receiving yards in Broncos history along with the fourth-most receiving touchdowns. McCaffrey, at one point, set the (now-broken) single-season receptions record in Broncos history.
3. Lionel Taylor (1960-66)
The first-ever wide receiver honored in the Broncos' Ring of Fame, Lionel Taylor was once one of the premier receiving talents of the pre-merger AFL. Before becoming the first receiver honored by Denver in 1984, Taylor joined the Broncos as a wideout in 1960, first playing professionally as a linebacker for the Chicago Bears in the NFL.
As a receiver, Taylor's career bloomed; he led the AFL in receptions five times, getting All-Star (Pro Bowl) recognition three times and five times an All-AFL selection. In his seven-year tenure with the Broncos, Taylor recorded greater than 1,100 receiving yards four times, turning into a phenomenon in the then-early franchise's history.
After spending two years with the Houston Oilers, Taylor retired from playing and became a coach in both the pros and college ranks. Taylor is the Broncos' fourth leader in receiving yards (third for only wideouts) and caught the fifth-most (tied) touchdowns.
2. Demaryius Thomas (2010-18)
Leaving the old school and returning to familiar territory, Demaryius Thomas is the most recent inclusion to this list, joining Denver as their first-round pick in the 2010 NFL Draft. Thomas, a standout with Georgia Tech, was not immediately impactful as a neophyte, but would later shoot himself into stardom with four Pro Bowl selections and four consecutive seasons totaling 1,300 receiving yards or more.
Thomas was the Broncos' regular-season receiving yards leader during their Super Bowl 50 season, in 2015—the No. 1 target for Peyton Manning (and Brock Osweiler).
Thomas was traded mid-season in 2018 to the Houston Texans. Since then, Thomas, 32, appeared on the rosters of the New England Patriots and New York Jets, not making quite the impact as he did during his Broncos days. He's a free agent at the moment.
Thomas sits with the second-most receiving yards (9,055) in Broncos history, along with the second-most receiving touchdowns (60).
1. Rod Smith (1995-2006)
The best receiver in Broncos history, despite not getting elected to the Hall of Fame yet, was an easy choice: two-time Super Bowl champion Rod Smith.
An undrafted receiver in 1994 out of Missouri Southern State, Smith did wonders for all undrafted players, turning into a three-time Pro Bowler and Elway's prime target in the Broncos' consecutive title victories. Smith recorded six consecutive seasons with 1,000 or more receiving yards along with seven seasons with that qualifier in nine years.
During the 2001 Broncos campaign, Smith led the NFL in receptions, with 113, which stands unchallenged as the franchise's single-season best record.
Injuries prevented what could have been a few more years of production, and Smith officially retired in 2008, last playing two years prior. Smith was inducted in Denver's Ring of Fame in 2012 and remains one of the best players to don a Broncos uniform in spite of the Hall of Fame ongoing snub. He's first on the leaderboard for Denver in both receiving yards, eclipsing 11,000, and touchdowns.
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