ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- In a passing league rich with impact wide receivers producing one highlight-reel after another, the Denver Broncos remain outliers.

Heading into Week 10, the Broncos have one wide receiver among the league’s top 63 in receptions: Courtland Sutton. And after eight games, Broncos wide receivers only have four touchdown catches combined. That’s also four fewer than the Buffalo Bills’ Stefon Diggs and the Las Vegas Raiders’ Davante Adams have individually.

Yet Broncos general manager George Paton believes Sutton will regain some of his early-season momentum and that Jerry Jeudy and KJ Hamler can still blossom. So much so when other general managers asked about the availability of some of the team’s wide receivers before the trade deadline, Paton put up the stop sign.

“We received a number of calls on our receivers and some other positions,’’ Paton said. “We wanted to keep our young, talented receivers. We started to get some rhythm in the last game versus Jacksonville and we just feel good with where we're going. We're trending in the right direction.”

Sutton is on the same page.

“My expectation is always to make plays to help us win, I just feel like I want to be perfect for this team,’’ Sutton said. “[I] want to help us get on track, score points, win games … I want that role and I don’t want us looking back [this season] and keep saying ‘we had opportunities’ or ‘we’re close’ and we didn’t take advantage of it.’’

For much of the first eight games, Sutton has been quarterback Russell Wilson’s go-to target on the outside as Hamler has been on a pitch count as he returns from offseason hip and knee surgeries. Sutton leads the team in targets (62), including at least seven in each of the Broncos’ first five games, at least 10 in three of those games.

But defenses have certainly noticed as well, spinning coverages Sutton’s way for much of the last month -- Sutton has two, three and one reception in the last three games respectively -- and coach Nathaniel Hackett has said one of the offshoots of getting more production from the others may give Sutton more room to work.

“We don’t want [defenses] to be able to track Courtland -- we don’t want defenses to be able to track any of our receivers -- we want to move them around,’’ Hackett said. “We want them to be multiple so as he get more efficient and make some of those plays with Courtland and others, we can create some space.’’

In the next nine games Paton’s vote of confidence will play out in what Jeudy and Hamler -- the Broncos’ first- and second-round picks in the 2020 draft -- do the rest of the way. Jeudy is an excellent route-runner with three touchdown catches, but has struggled to stay consistent. He leads the team in drops this season and some opposing defensive coaches have privately said they believe his early-game frustrations affect his long-term performance.

“I can just keep working at it,’’ Jeudy said. “ … Just make plays, keep my techniques, do things the right way.”

The Broncos have been conscious of trying to bring Hamler back safely from his two surgeries, and he’s been a catalyst for some of their biggest plays, even with limited playing time.

The Broncos have had six pass plays of at least 45 yards this season and Hamler has three of those among his seven receptions this season. In the Broncos’ win over the Jaguars in London, the offense had particular success when Hamler and rookie tight end Greg Dulcich, who didn’t play in the team’s first five games because of a hamstring injury, attacked the Jacksonville defense from the same side of the formation.

The two combined for six receptions and 139 yards and had the two longest receptions in the game for the Broncos -- a 38-yarder for Dulcich and a 47-yarder for Hamler on the game-winning drive in the fourth quarter. Since his return in Week 6, Dulcich has the team's longest touchdown catch -- 39 yards -- to go with the eight receptions of at least 25 yards in those three games.

“What I do believe is with our team, just catching some momentum,’’ Wilson said. “Every season I've ever played you've got to catch momentum. There's a moment in time where it clicks, and hopefully that's the start of it.’’