Broncos running back search starts with Ashton Jeanty and goes deep
Feb 28, 2025, 12:31 PM
INDIANAPOLIS — Ashton Jeanty is really just the beginning.
The Boise State running back had a formal interview with the Broncos this week — although he noted Friday morning during a question-and-answer session that it was without coach Sean Payton in the room. Lou Ayeni, the team’s running-backs coach who is generally held in high regard, was on hand.
Still, it was a meeting classified as “really great” by Jeanty, a high-school teammate of Broncos All-Pro Marvin Mims Jr.
“We broke down some tape and them sort of things and talked about how they had a need for a running back,” Jeanty said.
“Great” was also how Jeanty described meetings with the Chicago Bears and Las Vegas Raiders, for what it’s worth. His Chicago conversation included current Bears running backs coach Eric Bieniemy, the former CU Buffs star and assistant coach.
Unlike with the Broncos, the Raiders’ head coach was in Jeanty’s meeting with that team.
“It was good vibes talking to Pete Carroll and just talking about the art of playing running back, really the art of breaking tackles, making guys miss,” Jeanty said.
Just like they did last year at the NFL Scouting Combine, the Broncos aren’t exactly cloaking their positional emphasis. They went heavy on quarterbacks last year, and this year, running backs and tight ends have seen a particular emphasis.
North Carolina’s Omarion Hampton, SMU’s Brashard Smith, Oregon’s Jordan James, Arizona State’s Cam Skattebo and Oklahoma State’s Ollie Gordon II all confirmed meetings with the Broncos on Friday. Ohio State’s Trey Henderson was asked, but wasn’t clear in his response during his question-and-answer session.
There were a reported 10 formal Broncos interviews with running backs overall, which would represent nearly one-fourth of their allotted 45 player interviews permitted at the Combine.
Jeanty doesn’t appear likely to be available at No. 20 when the Broncos go on the clock, which is certainly why the Broncos are wise to do their homework on the breadth of a class that is widely considered to be deeper than average. He is considered the only clear first-rounder, although Hampton appears to have some separation as the No. 2 back, which could also push him into the Round 1 range.
“I would hope I don’t fall that far,” Jeanty said, “but if that happens I would have no problem playing for the Denver Broncos.”
This, of course, is the milieu in which every player expresses enthusiasm about every possibility. And for the Broncos, their running-back search appears to be as wide-open as the potential destinations for the cluster of runners with whom they spoke this week.
