Denver Broncos: Do not sleep on Royce Freeman
Phillip Lindsay took NFL by storm and rightly so, but there is another running back primed to return to form for the Denver Broncos in 2019.
Second-year running back Royce Freeman is healthy and ready to make an impact on the field this season for the Denver Broncos. Despite dealing with a sprained ankle, Freeman still racked up close to half a thousand yards. This is an impressive feat considering he did miss a few weeks.
However, Freeman was not the same player after the injury. He faced difficulty moving like he did previously. Based on his skill set Freeman needs the ankle to be close to 100 percent to gain his cutting ability.
The talent level of Freeman is impressive to say the least. In some ways, there’s a little bounce and vision to the running style of Freeman paralleling Le’Veon Bell. By no means is this comparing Freeman to to Bell. It just so happens there’s some they both do rather well.
The touchdown by Freeman versus the Kansas City Chiefs might be one of the most impressive runs seen by my eyes in 2018. It was a simple toss play that should not have been called. Freeman saw multiple defenders crowding his view. Yet, he found a small sliver of green and the rest was history. Here is the highlight of that run.
Phillip Lindsay is without question the heartbeat of the offense. However it is best for Freeman to see majority of the carries. This in no way discounting Lindsay’s 2018 rookie campaign. In fact, it will make Lindsay more explosive.
Back when Freeman was healthy and saw the carries to begin the game it became a great combination of power and speed with the two backs. Freeman is also the kind of player that wears defenses out.
The combination of Royce Freeman and Phillip Lindsay is special by NFL standards. Both backs showed they can be three-down backs. This is a huge statement because Freeman can be that guy. The commitment to pass blocking and catching is a very underrated aspect of Freeman’s game that gets over looked. We say often that the best growth happens from year one to year two.
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Freeman is dousing the expectations in 2019 with statistical goals. As he should. Take it one game at a time and let the play do the talking. This is what Freeman spoke about during a Denver Broncos OTA session. In March John Elway spoke glowingly about both of the them together in the Denver Post.
Regarding the one-two punch Lindsay and Freeman present to defenses, it makes them better. Competition always brings the most out of players. Good or bad. As it turns out, both Freeman and Lindsay had great rookie seasons. If Lindsay did not have the rookie year he did, then they would say same thing about Freeman.
Lindsay deserves plenty of credit for keeping the Denver Broncos afloat last season, but do not sleep on what Freeman can do with this offense.