Broncos roster review: rookie wide receiver DeVontres Dukes

After the 2021 NFL Draft, the Denver Broncos added former USF wide receiver DeVontres Dukes to their roster as an undrafted free agent. The $1,000 signing bonus was the lowest offered out of all of the Broncos’ undrafted signees.

DeVontres Dukes, WR
Height: 6-4
Weight: 216 lbs
College: University of South Florida

If Dukes makes the team, he’ll join Chris Harris Jr. in that rarified air of players offered a very small bonus and then made the team. Harris received $2,000 as a signing bonus back in 2011 as an undrafted guy out of Kansas.

The Good

Dukes knows adversity and learned how to fight to turn things around. He was suspended in 2018 for violating team rules and almost quit football, but he didn’t give up and worked harder to succeed.

Now, having caught the eye of a Broncos scout and with a chance to make it in the NFL, Dukes has turned his attention on making the most of this opportunity.

“I’m going in with the mindset of ‘I’m the best receiver there,’” Dukes said of getting a chance with the Broncos. “I’m going to make sure they know who I am. The goal is to be around for a very long time and make sure that all the 31 teams that passed up on me realize ‘Man, we really passed up on a good one.’”

The Bad

There isn’t much on Dukes really. He had a nice final season at USF, but he was clearly a late bloomer in that offense. His best game in college happened on November 27, 2020 against UCF when he snagged 5 catches for 66 yards and two touchdowns. Why is that bad? Mostly because that accounted for half of his touchdowns in nine starts last season and his average in those other games came to 2 catches for 29 yards.

Denver’s scouting department must love Dukes’ athletic traits and/or other intangibles that are not showing up in those stat lines.

Final Word

Dukes likely has the longest of longshots to make the final 53-man roster and may not have the greatest odds of making the practice squad either, but it is clear that one of the Broncos scouts liked enough of what they saw in Dukes to convince George Paton to take a small chance on the kid.

As one of three wide receivers signed as undrafted free agents, he will have plenty of competition this summer. I hope Dukes has a huge training camp!