On Wednesday, the Denver Broncos began the construction of their new-look backfield under new general manager George Paton with the signing of former Minnesota Vikings running back Mike Boone.
According to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, the Broncos signed Boone to two-year deal with $2.6 million guaranteed, and $1.6 million of that coming in the form of a signing bonus.
While with the Vikings, Boone averaged over five yards per carry. Unfortunately his totals are much less impressive, gaining 379 yards on just 71 carries over three seasons.
That’s incredibly disappointing for a potential Phillip Lindsay replacement, but it’s more likely that Boone’s signing is to replace Royce Freeman instead.
That’s not to say that this signing is good for Lindsay though.
When the Broncos decided to not give Lindsay a second-round tender — worth just $1.2 million more than the tender they chose to offer — it was pretty clear they weren’t interested in keeping him long term. The second-round tender would have also scared off other teams from offering Lindsay a deal, allowing Denver to keep him at a discount.
Choosing not to offer him that second-round tender means the only way the Broncos will keep Lindsay is if another team doesn’t offer him a contract (highly unlikely) or if they decide to match another team’s long-term extension. It’s hard to see the Broncos matching an expensive contract for Lindsay, considering they could’ve easily had him on a one-year deal worth just over $3 million by offering the aforementioned second-round tender.
Signing another running back for $2.6 million makes them ponying up for Lindsay seem even less likely.
Using Boone as a Freeman replacement makes much more sense as that’s the role he’s best suited for. He was a No. 3 running back in Minnesota, and although he was given much fewer opportunities to produce, his production is more impressive than Freeman’s.
Boone being a replacement for the former duck seems even more likely considering his contract is only for the 2021 season. That means the Broncos are still without a running back under contract in 2022 (outside of Boone), and they’ll probably still need to draft young insurance their this season.
Now also factor in the fact that while with Minnesota, George Paton’s Vikings never drafted a running back outside the draft’s first three rounds. If the Broncos follow that script, it wouldnt make sense to stash such a highly-drafted asset behind Mike Boone and/or Royce Freeman.
It also don’t make much sense to have both Freeman and Boone on the roster as they fill very similar roles.
If the Broncos do choose to release Freeman, it will save them $970,000 against the cap, making the ultimate cost of the Boone contract (from the cap’s perspective) just $1.6 million dollars.
That’s an acceptable — though not ideal — expense to swallow, in order to upgrade your running back depth and improve one of the league’s worst special teams units.
