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In pondering the incredible 2012 season that the Denver Broncos receivers had under the direction of Peyton Manning, it is a good time to take a look back at some of the greatest receivers in team history.

Demaryius Thomas and Eric Decker together accumulated 179 catches for 2,498 yards, 23 touchdowns and a whopping 779 yards after catch. This puts them in the talk of best Broncos performances ever by a receiver tandem in a single season.

Brandon Stokley, Jacob Tamme and Joel Dreessen added another 138 catches for 1,455 yards and 12 touchdowns, and with the addition of Wes Welker this offseason it is natural to think these numbers will be surpassed in 2013.

When looking at the greatest of all time in a Broncos uniform, each one of the following receivers have stood out as some of the best in the league for the years they played.

This list is not accumulated from merely statistics, but from a viewpoint of success at the time and also importance to the Broncos postseason advances. While, for the most part, John Elway had a hand in most of these receivers, there are a couple that had their best years without him.

The following receivers will forever be part of Broncos lore and numbers three through ten can be put in any order. In their own right, these players have helped mold the Broncos into a high-powered offense that stretched the field and allowed chains to be moved towards their opponents end zone.

Hopefully we will be talking about Thomas and Decker on this list when all is said and done. So without further dialogue, here are my top ten greatest receivers in Broncos history and a couple honorable mentions to get you started: