When someone starts talking about professional football in Denver, the conversation immediately goes to one topic: who will be the starting quarterback for the Broncos at the start of the 2017 season? A debate normally follows in suite encompassing names like Trevor Siemian, Paxton Lynch and the occasional Tony Romo. Yet, people seem to ignore another issue for the Broncos: the run game.
There was promise at the beginning of the season, yet the hope of running the ball took a dive when starter C.J. Anderson suffered a torn meniscus against the Houston Texans.
“Well, we didn’t see enough of C.J. He got hurt, there’s nothing he can do about that, nor us,” said Broncos general manager John Elway. “We signed him to a four-year deal last year, so expect him to come back. [We] have a high expectation for him to come back, and have a good year for us.”
The Broncos will need Anderson help for the upcoming season after finishing No. 27 in the NFL in 2016. Although the Broncos had little success running the ball, there is promise for in 2016 fourth-round-draft-pick Devontae Booker.
“I think Devontae had a good year last year. Obviously, he was rookie and learned a lot, got a lot of playing time, which I think will be a tremendous help for him,” said Elway. “We still have high expectations for Devontae. [We] think he going to be a real good back in this league for a long time. He’ll have that first year under his belt, which I think is really going to help him going into this offseason.”
Booker ran for 612 yards as well as scoring four touchdowns in his rookie year, proving he might be a viable option in the backfield for the Denver Broncos in the future.
