ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Even if it turns out Javonte Williams needs a week or two into the regular season before he’s fully cleared from his ACL injury, it appears new head coach Sean Payton likes the Broncos’ running back room.
Small in numbers as the position may be.
After Williams, who did not participate in 11-on-11 team drills during OTA's, the Broncos have just four other running backs on their 90-man roster: Samaje Perine, Tony Jones Jr., Tony Badie and Jaleel McLaughlin.
Jones (179), Badie (0) and the undrafted rookie McLaughlin (0) have a combined 179 career rushing yards. So the key beyond Williams is Perine, a seventh-year back who hasn’t rushed for as many as 400 yards since his rookie year with Washington back in 2017.
“I see position flex,’’ Payton said back in late-March of Perine at the NFL owners meetings in Phoenix. “He’s built to last. That was an important piece for us knowing the injury that we’re dealing with. He was really important.”
The injury the coach references is Williams’ knee. Yes, Javonte seems to be ahead of his schedule in his recovery from last year’s ACL injury, but progression can’t be fully evaluated until the pads go on for the 11-on-11 team periods in training camp.
Some may look at the Broncos’ running back position and see depth concerns, the way the team’s edge-rusher position looked before veteran Frank Clark and his 58.5 career sacks were brought in Thursday for a one-year, $5.5 million agreement.
Yet, the Broncos do not appear to be in on newly set free running back Dalvin Cook, who is coming off four consecutive 1,100-yard rushing seasons for the Minnesota Vikings. Cook was scheduled to make $11 million this year before he was released Friday and even if he accepts a pay cut to say, $8 million, the Broncos after the Clark deal will only have about $6 million in cap space.
Still, don’t be surprised if the Broncos add one more running back between now and the start of the regular season which kicks off Sept. 10 against the division-rival Las Vegas Raiders at Empower Field at Mile High. After cutting three running backs in a six-day period recently, the Broncos need another back or two to fill out the running back practice-drill lines, if nothing else.
A look at the Broncos’ five running backs who are due to enter their scheduled three-day mandatory minicamp Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday that will conclude their offseason:
Javonte Williams, 3rd year, 5-10, 220, 23
Before the knee injury in Game 5 at Vegas last season, Williams may have been pound-for-pound the league’s strongest running back. He broke tackles, and carried gang tacklers, throughout his 903-yard rushing season in 2021. Because he is more of a straight-ahead power back than a quick-cutter slasher, he may be able to recover quicker than most backs from an ACL injury.
It says here Javonte is slightly better than a 50-50 bet to start game 1 against the Raiders. But let’s pick out a worst-case scenario and say it’s determined Williams won’t be fully himself again until say, Game 7 against the Packers. It doesn’t make sense to have a bell cow like Cook play for 6 games, at big money, and not have the running back job waiting for Williams.
Perine and maybe a $2 million running back with previous starting experience would make more sense as Williams eases back into form.
Samaje Perine, 7th year, 5-10, 236, 27
A younger version of Latavius Murray, Perine gained extra national notice during the Bengals’ narrow Super Bowl loss to the Rams two years ago when he, not star running back Joe Mixon, was in the game for the final drive.
Perine then had a nice mix last year of 394 yards rushing off the bench and a career-best 38 catches for another 287 yards and 6 combined touchdowns.
He is capable of starting the first month or so until Williams is full speed ahead.
Tony Jones Jr., 4th year, 5-11, 224, 25
Another strong back with power, Jones has a chance to become the Broncos’ No. 3 back. Has only played in 18 games over his three seasons but 11 came in 2021 with Payton in New Orleans when Jones had 54 carries, by far his career-best.
Tony Badie, 2nd year, 5-8, 197, 23
First touch of his NFL career, Badie in the second half of the Broncos’ final game last season took a Russell Wilson flare pass left and cut up field for a 24-yard touchdown in a 31-28 win.
General manager George Paton and the Broncos’ scouting staff had good reports on Badie coming out of Missouri in 2021, when he rushed for 1,604 yards, 14 touchdowns and catching 54 passes for another 330 yards and 4 touchdowns. A sixth-round draft pick by the Baltimore Ravens last year, the Broncos signed him off their practice squad late last season.
With Williams and Perine as the power-type backs, the quicker Badie would make sense as a third-back complement.
Jaleel McLaughlin, rookie, 5-7, 187, 22
Coming off a record-setting college career in which he rushed for 8,166 yards in five combined seasons at Division II Notre Dame College and what used to be called Division I-AA Youngstown State.
An impressive story that includes a family period with homelessness, McLaughlin has been impressive so far in the way he has conducted himself as a pro. Premium undrafted rookies generally start their rookie seasons on the practice squad, but perhaps McLaughlin will get a chance to open eyes during the preseason.
SUGGESTED VIDEOS: Sports
MORE WAYS TO GET 9NEWS
Subscribe to our daily 9NEWSLETTER
Download the 9NEWS APP
iTunes: http://on9news.tv/itunes
Google Play: http://on9news.tv/1lWnC5n
ADD THE 9NEWS+ APP TO YOUR STREAMING DEVICE
ROKU: add the channel from the ROKU store or by searching for KUSA.
For both Apple TV and Fire TV, search for "9news" to find the free app to add to your account. Another option for Fire TV is to have the app delivered directly to your Fire TV through Amazon.