Is Javonte Williams all the way back? At RB, questions abound

For Javonte Williams and the Denver Broncos running backs, full pads will tell the tale.

With Williams, full-contact work in training camp will show whether he regained the tackle-bursting explosion he displayed prior to his October 2022 knee injury. For Jaleel McLaughlin, this will reveal whether his work on pass-blocking technique translates under a heavy rush. And for Samaje Perine, the repetitions will demonstrate where he stacks up in a running-back room that appears to have more quality than available roster spots — thanks to a pair of rookies poised to push.

CAN JAVONTE WILLIAMS LOOK LIKE HIS OLD SELF?

The 2023 season was one of accomplishment for Javonte Williams. But the accomplishment was merely being back in uniform after suffering a horrifying knee injury that saw damage to the ACL, LCL and posterolateral corner in his right knee.

Actually running and cutting in a game — as he did in the second preseason game at San Francisco last August — represented a massive accomplishment.

But the road to recovery wasn’t done. It continued even through OTAs.

“I’m making progress each day,” Javonte Williams said during OTAs. “[I’m] getting one percent better and just trying to do the best that I can to help the team.”

The Broncos need Williams to be better than he was last year. Despite running behind an offensive line that ranked third in the NFL in run-block win rate (per ESPN Analytics), Williams finished the season with a streak of 10-straight games in which he failed to average 4.00 yards per carry.

During those 10 games, Williams averaged 3.3 yards per carry. That was the lowest per-attempt pace of any NFL running back with at least 150 attempts  in a single-season, 10-game stretch since Le’Veon Bell in 2019.

Javonte Williams is in his contract year. The pressure is palpable. But Broncos coach Sean Payton believes that being another year removed from the injury will make the difference.

“He’s been looking good,” Payton said. “I think historically speaking, when you talk to the experts, they say that the complete heal finishes at two years. Obviously you begin playing before then, but he’s been doing well. He’s in shape.”

Said Williams during OTAs: “I feel real good. Just another year in the system and the playbook, so I’m really starting to grasp everything and find the little details.”

But that’s a lesser task than the physical one.

“The challenge last year was really when you think about it, even in training camp, it was still early enough in the process where it was hard for him to go full speed with confidence,” Payton said.

“And yet we were building and getting him where we all felt comfortable, he could play. I think he’s looking forward to this year and certainly the confidence in his health and the strength in his knee.”

IS JALEEL McLAUGHLIN READY FOR MORE? AND WHAT OF SAMAJE PERINE?

Second-year running back Jaleel McLaughlin knew from the moment the season ended last year that his No. 1 area of emphasis was going to be on pass protection. Without rising at that skill, his ceiling would remain “situational gadget back.”

But by the end of offseason work, the impression he’d made on coaches went beyond that.

“One thing you know about Jaleel is that he’s going to work hard,” offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi said. “Whatever you ask him to do, he’s going to work at it.

“Obviously, we’re not in pads so you can’t see everything, but just as far as his intention and assignment on pass protection has been outstanding. I don’t know if there’s anyone who works harder than him. His speed, his acceleration, his explosiveness has all been impressive this spring.”

McLaughlin was the most consistently explosive back during offseason practices open to media observation. But that attribute was already known from his work last year. So, it was worth asking: What could McLaughlin show during low-contact work to reveal progress as a pass blocker?

“There are strength improvements that go with that, then it’s technique,” Lombardi said. “But to your point, it’s hard to judge anchor because no one’s ever hitting them. So you’re working on leverage, body position, the approach to the block, all those things. But the rubber doesn’t really hit the road until the pads come on.”

And then there is Samaje Perine, who handled the “closer” role among Broncos running backs last year. Pass protection isn’t a question with Perine, and he looked explosive during OTAs, as well.

The problem for Perine is this: If Williams and McLaughlin have clear roles, what happens if he gets squeezed from behind? Because there are a pair of newcomers who both could have jobs waiting for them if they can step forward in the next seven weeks.

THE ROOKIES

When Sean Payton said that his initial vision for fifth-round pick Audric Estimé was as a “first- and second-down runner,” it became clear that the possibility of being a primary, No. 1 running back was very much in play for the Notre Dame product.

Sean Payton: “A lot of times we’ll have close friends and family ask, ‘Why’d you take a runner? You already have (one).”

Payton explains why the Broncos chose Audric Estimé in Round 5 — and why his first vision for the @NDFootball product is as a “first- and second-down runner”: pic.twitter.com/d3FLqkXLwv

— Andrew Mason (@MaseDenver) April 29, 2024

“I think he has real good vision (and) contact balance. He was one of the higher-grade backs after contact,” Payton said.

“Man, he is a first- and second-down runner who I think is strong and has pretty good feet for his size.”

Estimé’s power gear is a reason why OTAs weren’t expected to reveal all that the fifth-round pick could provide before he underwent surgery and a PRP injection in his knee in late May.

While the on-field work could have allowed him to get further up to speed in learning the scheme, the low-contact nature of it didn’t play to Estimé’s strengths as a power runner. Nevertheless, he can’t quite turn off the gear of maximum effort.

“I just try to still run hard,” he said during rookie minicamp. “Like, I’m not trying to hurt my teammates in practice, but you’ve gotta finish runs. You’ve gotta run with your pad level and you just run past the last guy. A safety comes up and I’ll say, ‘You’re not tackling me on that play.'”

Undrafted rookie Blake Watson is a different kind of running back than Estimé, and his pass-catching prowess could allow him to carve out a role — and, if one looks over the horizon, the chance to be a potential long-term partner for Estimé as a “joker” type of running back.

“He was one of those guys — again in the seventh round, sixth round — but we saw a player that was natural catching the ball. That was a big draw,” Payton said in May. “When we read a player, that was a draw to his vision. What’s the vision? So now we’re learning more about him.

Broncos head coach Sean Payton sees plenty to like about rookie RB and @MemphisFB product @BlakeWatson_2, a potential “joker” in the offense.

“We saw a player that was natural catching the ball & so, that was a big draw,” he said, “…and you saw pretty good football I.Q. too.” pic.twitter.com/Qv9Hmm5koe

— Andrew Mason (@MaseDenver) May 13, 2024

“I’m not making the comparison, but when [the Saints] drafted [Alvin] Kamara, we saw that vision, but we didn’t realize the other things in the running game. The first handoff in the preseason I think against the Chargers, he went 52 yards for a touchdown. And we were like, ‘Man, we can hand the ball off to him.’

“But if you asked me the traits that attracted us to Blake, it was certainly that that we saw in the passing game, and you saw pretty good football I.Q., too.”

AND DON’T FORGET ABOUT …

… Tyler Badie, although the clock is ticking on him as he enters his third season in the Broncos mix. His playing time to date was so scant — one game, 9 offensive snaps and 2 touches, one of which resulted in a touchdown reception — that he remains eligible for rookie minicamp, which led him there in May.

“I kid Badie, I’m like, ‘You didn’t get a credited year?’, because I feel like he’s been here two years, right?” Payton said. “I’m like, ‘Let’s make sure you’re not at this one next year.'”

One way or another, that will likely be the case, because either he works his way up the ladder … or the Broncos move in another direction, necessitated by the churn at the position that sees two rookies with the potential to upend the depth chart.