His whole career, Gary Kubiak has built his teams around the run game. Since his first stint in Denver and on through his many years in Houston, the one-cut-and-go running back has been a staple of the Kubiak offense.
In fact, since getting his first coordinating position with the Broncos back in 1995, Kubiak has sported a top-10 rushing attack in 13 of his 21 seasons. So you can imagine that he’ll want to improve on the Broncos’ 17th-ranked run game next season.
But how?
Well, free agency’s a start, but how many resources can they devote to that? Working off the assumption that they bring C.J. Anderson back — a restricted free agent, that’s a good guarantee — probably not much. If Anderson is back in 2016, he’ll be the Broncos No. 1 back; at worst, he’ll be a option 1B.
That pretty much takes guys like Matt Forte and Doug Martin out of the equation, unless they’re willing to take a lot less for a Super Bowl opportunity.
So aside from them, who makes sense?
Here are five running backs the Denver Broncos could be taking a look at in free agency:
5. Chris Ivory
There’s a 90 percent chance the Chris Ivory is going to demand more money than the Broncos are willing to spend, but if there’s one Pro Bowl running back the Broncos could potentially bring into the fold, it’s Chris Ivory.
When healthy, Ivory has been a very, very good back in the NFL, average 4.6 yards per carry during his career. The health, though, is a real issue. While the 220-pound back has only missed two games in his last three years, he’s been banged up many more than that, and it’s impacted his performance on the field. After averaging 4.3 and 5.4 yards per carry in September and October, respectively, Ivory’s production dipped to below 4 yards a carry in November and December after the constant pounding he was taking caught up to him.
Even as a second and third option in New Orleans, where he spent the first three years of his career, Ivory was prone to injury; it doesn’t seem to be the workload but the bruising style that wears him down.
According to Spotrac.com, Ivory’s market value is $4.1 million a year, and in my estimation, that’s far too much for a No. 2 or No. 1B back, especially with so many other pressing priorities. If he were to come down, though, and settle in somewhere around $2.5 million, forgoing the extra cash in exchange for a title run, it might work.
It’s probably a long shot, but it’s worth a call — maybe a text.
