During his two seasons at Penn State, KJ Hamler totaled 1,258 return yards. Broncos special teams coordinator Tom McMahon believes Hamler’s return skills will transition to the NFL.
“I think what he’s done in college, his production, naturally it should carry over to the NFL,” McMahon said during a Zoom conference call on June 11. “He’s got great speed. He can create his own return. The one thing he’s going to have to do is he’s going to have catch a bunch of NFL punts here in the preseason.
“There is a much different punt that you see in college, but if we get that ball in his hands, we’re going to expect big things from him both in the punt return game and in the kick return game.”
That doesn’t mean Hamler will automatically become Denver’s new punt and kick returner. Diontae Spencer earned Pro Bowl alternate honors as a returner last season and if Hamler is as good of a receiver as the Broncos hope he is, Denver’s coaches might want him to focus on offense.
“There’s competition everywhere,” McMahon said. “‘Spence’ was a great returner for us last year. We’ve got other guys in the building and they can all run: Khalfani [Muhammad], Spence, KJ, Trinity [Benson] — they all run — Tyrie Cleveland. They can all run very very well. Kelvin McKnight has great juice. We’re excited to work with all those guys.”
Hamler isn’t guaranteed to win a return job but he will add more depth and explosiveness to the position. If he ends up receiving most of his snaps on offense, Hamler could still provide a spark at returner when needed, even if the team limits his return opportunities in 2020.
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