Denver Broncos: Taking a look at new RB Jeremy McNichols
The Denver Broncos lost Dave Williams from their practice squad and replaced him with former Boise State star Jeremy McNichols.
The Denver Broncos lost Dave Williams when the Jacksonville Jaguars poached him off of their practice squad earlier this week. With the team returning to practice on Wednesday, they had an open spot to fill and did so by signing Jeremy McNichols.
McNichols is a very interesting pickup for the Broncos and gives them another player with an obscene amount of college production in their backfield.
He’s also a former Boise State Bronco, so he’s got some experience in the orange and blue.
What does this young player bring to the table? Let’s take a look at McNichols and his NFL journey thus far.
At Boise State
While a member of the Boise State Broncos, McNichols was virtually unstoppable. As a true freshman in 2014, he was actually redshirting before the Boise State coaching staff allegedly couldn’t keep him off the field, lifting his redshirt halfway through the year allowing him to take carries from eventual NFL Draft selection Jay Ajayi.
On 32 touches as a true freshman, McNichols averaged nearly 10 yards per touch and burst onto the scene as a triple threat as a runner, receiver, and returner.
When Ajayi left for the NFL, McNichols’ usage picked up and his production skyrocketed.
In two seasons as the Broncos’ starter, he ran for over 3,000 yards (5.5 yards per carry), and added an additional 934 yards as a receiver.
He caught 88 passes between his sophomore and junior seasons at Boise State and racked up nearly 4,300 total yards of offense in his college career.
Perhaps even more staggering, McNichols finished his college career with 55 total touchdowns, 44 as a runner and 11 as a receiver.
Coming to the NFL
As an NFL prospect, McNichols was beloved by some NFL Draft analysts and experts, receiving pretty unanimous mid-round grades.
He has a solid built at 5-foot-9, 214 pounds and runs a 4.49-second 40-yard dash with an excellent 6.93-second three-cone time (measuring short-area quickness).
The Buccaneers seemed to get a pretty decent value in the fifth round of the 2017 NFL Draft when they scooped up McNichols, but he never became what they hoped he could in short order.
The Buccaneers let him go and McNichols tried to latch on with the San Francisco 49ers and Kyle Shanahan. That also didn’t work out.
His latest gig was with the Indianapolis Colts this season and he actually got some play in the regular season, carrying the ball twice for four yards against the Texans.
What now?
The Broncos obviously needed another body at running back, and all things considered, McNichols is a pretty fun prospect to have on the practice squad. He hasn’t had an instant impact but that isn’t always to be expected of a fifth-round pick.
That might come down the road, or it might deal completely with the situation the player is in.
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We’ll hope the Broncos can maximize McNichols’ potential under the guidance of running backs coach Curtis Modkins, who has done wonders with young backs in the NFL the past few years with his development of Jordan Howard, Tarik Cohen, Royce Freeman, and Phillip Lindsay.