The Denver Broncos’ offense finally showed some signs of life against the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday, albeit in a loss, but it came at a great cost. Seen on crutches in the locker room after the game, Broncos starting running back Javonte Williams went down with a knee injury on the first play of the third quarter and was carted to the locker room, getting ruled out almost immediately. The Broncos are not expecting good news, as you would expect.
The good news is, the Broncos have a very experienced running back on the roster behind Williams in veteran Melvin Gordon. The bad news? Gordon has had a significant fumbling issue that has cost his team gravely. Over the course of the last five games Gordon has played (dating back to the Broncos’ matchup vs. the Chiefs at the end of the 2021 season), the former first-round pick out of Wisconsin has five fumbles.
Denver Broncos need RB reinforcements after Javonte Williams injury
Williams won’t be expected back this season for the Denver Broncos until the MRI results come through. It will be a huge break for the Broncos if he’s able to return at all and this is somehow just a minor injury compared to what reports are making it seem. Let’s take a look through some options the Broncos could consider to fortify the position alongside Melvin Gordon and Mike Boone.
1. Tevin Coleman (currently on 49ers practice squad)
For a stretch of time, Tevin Coleman was one of the better RB2s in the NFL. Drafted to play in the Kyle Shanahan offense in Atlanta, Coleman was the second half of a dynamic duo in the backfield once upon a time with Devonta Freeman. Six years goes by pretty quick in the NFL, doesn’t it?
Over the course of his NFL career, Coleman has averaged over four yards per carry and has proven himself capable as a receiver out of the backfield. Most recently, he saw some regular season action last year with the Jets and had over 400 yards from scrimmage in 11 games. Denver Broncos tight ends coach Jake Moreland was in New York last year as an offensive assistant and undoubtedly knows Coleman, but offensive coordinator Justin Outten also knows him from their days together in Atlanta as well.
The Broncos would have to poach Coleman off the 49ers’ practice squad, but if they can offer him an expanded role in the offense, he might be willing to leave.
Denver Broncos option no. 2: Phillip Lindsay (currently on Colts practice squad)
How about a reunion?
Back in 2018, Phillip Lindsay became one of the NFL’s breakout stars as an undrafted free agent. He became the first undrafted rookie running back to be selected to Pro Bowl in NFL history as a member of the Denver Broncos and he ran for 1,000 yards in back-to-back seasons. Unfortunately, when the Broncos moved away from the zone blocking scheme in 2020 (when they hired Pat Shurmur as offensive coordinator), Lindsay’s role in the offense became murky.
He received a high volume of targets in the passing game in 2018 and 2019 but was limited in that regard in 2020. With Shurmur as the OC, the Broncos essentially telegraphed that they were running just about every time Lindsay was on the field. Although he’s not on clinical pass-protecting tapes and although he did have some dropped passes in Denver, Lindsay is a good runner who could provide a spark to the Broncos’ offense once more.
As of right now, Lindsay is on the Indianapolis Colts‘ practice squad. NFL rules don’t allow teams to poach off of an opponent’s practice squad within six days of a matchup against that team, so the Broncos would have to either wait until after their Thursday matchup against the Colts or Lindsay’s agent would have to somehow convince the team to release him outright. If you monitor some of the Tweets Lindsay has been liking on Twitter, a reuinion in Denver would certainly not be impossible for his part. It seems like he would definitely come back.
The Broncos extended Lindsay a restricted free agent tender in 2021 under general manager George Paton, but that offer was rescinded when the team signed Mike Boone. Lindsay has been floating around to a few teams in the time since, and I am sure he would welcome a return to Denver in an offense that might better suit him.
Denver Broncos option no. 3: Alex Collins (free agent)
When in doubt, look for someone that has played with the starting quarterback. A lot of times when you see moves like this made during the season, you’re going to find some type of connection between the player getting signed and the coaching staff or quarterback. The NFL is a lot about who you know and that could end up helping veteran running back Alex Collins, should he be looking to get back into the league and play some ball again.
Collins played for the Seattle Seahawks just last season where he was taking handoffs from Russell Wilson, now obviously the quarterback in Denver. Collins can handle a workload in the backfield if need be, but there are some clear issues in his game that could prevent the Broncos from being interested here.
First of all, Collins has never been a special teams guy. Second, he doesn’t offer much in the passing game as a receiver at this point.
With that being said, you could once again look to a connection outside of just the connection with Russell Wilson as a possible reason the Broncos would consider bringing in Alex Collins. The team recently hired veteran coach Jerry Rosburg as essentially the team’s game manager for head coach Nathaniel Hackett. Rosburg was a longtime special teams coach with the Baltimore Ravens and he undoubtedly knows Collins well from their overlapping years in Baltimore as well.
Denver Broncos option no. 4: Tyler Goodson (Green Bay Packers practice squad)
One option the Denver Broncos have right now is to promote from within (George Paton loves the next man up mentality) and look around at players they could poach off of practice squads around the league that are not yet proven in the NFL. As of right now, the team has Devine Ozigbo on the practice squad. If only for a game, Ozigbo is likely to be promoted and play against the Indianapolis Colts on Thursday.
But this is an issue going forward for the Broncos, not just a one-game replacement for Williams in all likelihood. Of course when you’re talking about poaching from another team and coaching connections, you have to look at the most recent team head coach Nathaniel Hackett was with — the Green Bay Packers.
Tyler Goodson did not play with Hackett in Green Bay, but there’s obviously going to be an easier transition here in terms of the scheme than potentially some other poaching options. Goodson is a good fit for the zone blocking scheme coming from the Iowa Hawkeyes program where you see a lot of those concepts, and it’s likely he would be able to pick up Hackett’s scheme quickly coming from Green Bay.
It was a surprise that the Packers waived Goodson in the first place. He had a great preseason and had seemingly played his way onto the Packers’ roster. Of course, the Packers have a deep running back group led by Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon, but despite Goodson’s strong preseason he made it through waivers and onto the practice squad.
He’s a bit on the smaller side but he can contribute on all three downs as a running back and would give the Broncos at least an intriguing dart throw for the remainder of the 2022 season.
Denver Broncos option no. 5: Trade for Antonio Gibson (Commanders)
Over the course of the first four games of the season, Washington Commanders fans have grown rather disgusted with the decline of running back Antonio Gibson. Gibson once looked like he was going to be a big-time featured back in the league, but fans are blaming Ron Rivera and the current coaching staff for ruining his progress.
It’s hard to blame them.
Four games into the 2022 season, the Commanders have diminished Gibson’s role week by week. His snap count has gone down every game since Week 1 and the Commanders are expected to activate rookie Brian Robinson this coming week off of the non-football injury list.
The Commanders may take a little time to see if Robinson is going to be okay following a gunshot wound that he’s miraculously coming back from already, but they have some decent depth at the position with JD McKissic, Jonathan Williams, and Jaret Patterson on the practice squad.
If they have internally moved on from a player like Gibson, why not trade him to the highest bidder? The Broncos can’t really be giving up premium draft assets for a running back right now — they simply don’t have those. They could certainly give up a late-round pick or do a pick swap to get Gibson away from the Commanders.
This might be a worthwhile long-term investment for the Broncos anyway. If Javonte Williams has suffered a serious knee injury, a player like Gibson could protect you in 2023 and give you a nice fail-safe at the position. In a worst-case scenario, he would be a fun RB1b alongside Javonte Williams when both are healthy.