For Javonte Williams, it’s been a tumultuous four-year career, but his strong running is back for the Denver Broncos.
At least, that’s what we saw against the New York Jets last Sunday.
And that’s great news for Broncos Country, because Denver needs a workhorse in the backfield.
Javonte Williams is back to running strong for Broncos
As a rookie in 2021, Williams was a beastly back to be feared by opposing defenses. He hit the hole with reckless abandon, and ran over would-be tacklers. He enjoyed 31 broken tackles that year per Pro Football Reference, and gained more yards after contact (460) than before contact (443).
Williams was also a reliable receiver–and has continued to be–with 43 receptions for 316 yards and 3 touchdowns that season.
But his running style changed in 2022 when he suffered a devastating knee injury, tearing his ACL and LCL and missing almost the entire season.
Williams in 2023 was a less-explosive runner than we’d previously seen, especially as the season went on. His best efforts came in the middle of the year during the team’s winning streak, against Green Bay, Kansas City and Buffalo. Later in the season, his yards per carry numbers dipped down into the twos, and he had multiple games with negative receiving yards.
Similarly, 2024 started slowly for Javonte Williams. Part of that was the entire offense playing poorly to begin the season, a byproduct of having a rookie quarterback.
And part of the issue was Sean Payton’s running back by committee approach. Then, rookie Audric Estime got hurt and was placed on Injured Reserve. Last week, during Williams’ breakout game of this season, Tyler Badie was also injured.
That opened the door for Williams to take back over as the lead back, which he did with a fury.
Broncos leaned on Williams in “outlier” game against Jets
The weather was so wet in New Jersey last week, Jets head coach Robert Saleh, quarterback Aaron Rodgers, and others have called it an “outlier” game. Bo Nix, nor Rodgers could grip the ball in the first half, allowing both defenses to crowd the line of scrimmage.
Still, Williams was able to gain 25 yards on the wet ground.
But where he really shined was in the second half, gaining 52 rushing yards, including bursts of 16, 12, and 9 yards respectively.
His strong running was crucial on both the touchdown, and following field goal drives in the second half which gave the Broncos the ultimate lead and win. He finished with 77 yards on the ground, his highest in a game since last November, and his 4.8 YPC were the most in a game since last October.
This week, it’ll likely be another heavy dose of Williams along with change of pace back Jaleel McLaughlin in Denver’s backfield.
And Williams might go off because the Las Vegas Raiders are allowing 137.5 yards per game on the ground. Plus, the rival Raiders are really banged up.
Maxx Crosby and starting linebackers Divine Deablo and Luke Masterson all didn’t practice on Thursday, and are all listed as questionable heading into this weekend’s matchup. If any of those three don’t play, it should mean even easier running for the Broncos in the Mile High City.
Denver (2-2) faces Las Vegas (2-2) this Sunday with a 2:05 p.m. MDT kickoff.