Denver Broncos: Biggest improvements needed from offensive playmakers
Phillip Lindsay, RB
Offseason homework: Become a great receiver
Through two seasons in the NFL, Phillip Lindsay has truly been one of the best backs in the league.
He’s got 486 total touches in two seasons and at this point, he hasn’t fumbled a single time. Lindsay is one of the toughest and most creative runners in the league, but there’s always room to improve.
One way we’re seeing backs become so valuable in today’s NFL is obviously their ability to stay on the field for all three downs. Prior to the last two or three games in the 2019 season, the Broncos had been using Royce Freeman more — in terms of snap counts — than Lindsay overall.
Lindsay out-snapped him in the final couple weeks of the season and ultimately finished with four more snaps than Freeman overall, but part of the reason Lindsay was on the field just 50 percent of the time this year was the fact that the team trusted Freeman a bit more in the passing game.
It may not seem substantial, but the fact that Freeman got 50 targets in the passing game this past season compared to 48 for Lindsay is an indicator that Lindsay can improve as a receiver. In fact, this little nugget from late December popped up and should excite Broncos fans.
Phillip Lindsay may workout with Christian McCaffrey this offseason, specifically to get better as a receiving back.
— Zac Stevens (@ZacStevensDNVR) December 30, 2019
If Lindsay can become a great receiving back, he’s going to be so much more dynamic for the Broncos. It’s hard to imagine that Lindsay’s only receiving touchdown in the NFL came in the first game of the 2018 season. How is a player with sub-4.4 speed not getting more opportunities to work in the passing game?
He’s caught a respectable 35 passes in each of the last two seasons, but we could be seeing a lot more in this phase of the game from Lindsay given his speed and vision in space.