The Denver Broncos are ‘kicking the tires’ on free agent running backs. Which players would pair well with Phillip Lindsay?
The Denver Broncos currently have over $70 million in 2020 salary cap space, which translates to ultimate flexibility with whatever they want to do in free agency.
That’s exciting news for Broncos fans, especially because this is a team that has been out of the playoffs since they won Super Bowl 50 and just watched the Kansas City Chiefs win the Super Bowl.
Because of the Broncos’ current playoff drought and the Chiefs winning it all, there’s nothing off the table in 2020 free agency, including spending more money on a running back than most people would really prefer.
John Elway spoke earlier this offseason to the fact that the Broncos need to emphasize improving the offense in the 2020 offseason, especially surrounding young quarterback Drew Lock with as much talent as possible.
In NFL economics, spending a great deal of cash on the running back position is just not a wise move for a team, but that doesn’t mean it never works out for anyone.
The Baltimore Ravens rode free agent acquisition Mark Ingram as their featured back last year. Frank Gore, whose mileage is up there among the most in NFL history, was a tremendous free agent pickup for the Buffalo Bills last offseason.
Latavius Murray ended up playing a major role with the New Orleans Saints with Alvin Kamara struggling with injuries in 2019.
Tevin Coleman was also a huge addition for the NFC Champion San Francisco 49ers.
Signing free agent running backs is not always a bad idea, but the price has to be right and the situation has to be right. Le’Veon Bell, after a year away from football, signed a massive four-year, $52 million contract to be the centerpiece of the New York Jets’ offense, and he had 1,250 yards from scrimmage and four total touchdowns, the worst numbers in his career when he played more than six games.
There is risk involved in signing free agent running backs, especially guys who have a lot of wear and tear on their bodies already.
But along with the risk comes the possible reward. The reward for the Broncos would be potentially pairing up Phillip Lindsay with a true featured back, and through two seasons in the NFL, former third-rounder Royce Freeman has not quite become that.
The Broncos may not have time to wait anymore for Freeman to break through. According to Mike Klis, John Elway and company might be sniffing around this year’s free agent running back class.
Like I said before, nothing We’ve taken a look at the free agent running back class beforeis off the table for the Broncos in free agency this offseason., but let’s examine how these guys could all fit in as perfect complements to Phillip Lindsay, specifically.
1. Melvin Gordon, Los Angeles Chargers
Although on the surface, Melvin Gordon seems to be just as productive on a per-play basis as Royce Freeman currently is for the Broncos (4.3 yards per touch for Freeman, 4.5 yards per touch for Gordon), there’s no denying that Gordon has been one of the most productive ‘featured’ backs in the league over the past few years in terms of putting the ball in the end zone.
After a shocking rookie season in which he didn’t score at all, Gordon has been on fire over the past four seasons, scoring 47 total touchdowns for the Chargers.
The way the Chargers deployed both Gordon and Austin Ekeler is something I had not previously considered from the Broncos’ context and something that could possibly work quite well.
Gordon is obviously a more physically gifted and more proven productive player than Royce Freeman at this point, but take a look at how he and Austin Ekeler did together with the Chargers this past season.
- 2,458 yards from scrimmage (combined)
- 20 total touchdowns
- 428 total touches
- 5.74 yards per touch (combined)
Essentially, the Chargers figured out a formula to make Melvin Gordon and Austin Ekeler one of the best running back duos in the league, and Ekeler was able to eat an extremely high volume of touches both as a runner and receiver.
The Broncos want to be able to use Lindsay in a similar way, so perhaps they could take a page out of the Chargers’ book here. Although the Chargers didn’t necessarily win a bunch of games with this combination, they were undoubtedly tough to defend for opposing teams and the 20 combined touchdowns between the two of them really stands out.
Perhaps Gordon, who is much more the type of back to be able to eat carries in comparison to Lindsay, could be the ideal complement in free agency.
It will come down to price.
Right now, Gordon is expected to command a contract north of $11 million per season, and that is just tough to stomach from the Broncos’ perspective. Even if you anticipate Gordon will give you roughly one touchdown per million bucks, that’s a tough amount of cash to shell out to a back.
If the Broncos can get him at under $10 million per season, that’s intriguing to me.
Jordan Howard, Philadelphia Eagles
Despite the fact that he rushed for over 1,000 yards in his first two seasons in the NFL with the Chicago Bears (which Vic Fangio had a front row seat for), Jordan Howard has not really ‘settled in’ in the NFL yet.
The 6-foot, 230-pound Howard is certainly ideally built as a featured back in today’s NFL with the ability to grind out tough yardage, and his career yards per carry average of 4.3 is indicative that he hasn’t just been a between the tackles type of guy.
Howard has proven himself capable of some explosive plays, although big speed is really not his game.
With that said, Howard has previously paired up quite well with Tarik Cohen, so the Broncos should at least think about him as a second-wave free agent.
In 2018 when the Bears won 12 games and were one of the most well-rounded teams in the league, Howard and Cohen combined for 440 total touches, 2,249 total yards from scrimmage, and 17 total touchdowns.
They were a great pair together and perhaps the Broncos would see the same type of success for both Howard and Lindsay in Denver.
Kenyan Drake, Arizona Cardinals
The Miami Dolphins purged their roster in 2019 and one of their many casualties was running back Kenyan Drake, whose value was way lower at the 2019 trade deadline than it probably should have been.
Although the former Alabama star has shown flashes of brilliance in his career with the Dolphins, he was a really good fit with the Cardinals who were once again dealing with issues regarding David Johnson’s health.
In eight games with the Cardinals, Drake racked up 814 yards from scrimmage and eight touchdowns. Extrapolated over 16 games, that would be 1,628 yards and 16 touchdowns.
The Cardinals figured something out with Drake and Drake himself hit a stride at the perfect time.
His breakout second half of 2019 is going to result in a large pay day, maybe with the Cardinals, but he’s worth considering for Denver from the perspective that he is a pretty well-rounded back with explosive traits and big-play abilities.
I don’t know that he’s the perfect complement to Phillip Lindsay, but he can certainly bring his own element to the offense and keep the running game going along with Lindsay.
He’s an explosive runner with 4.45 speed and he may just now be gaining the confidence needed to be a featured back at the NFL level. He’s no stranger to sharing carries, even dating back to his days at Alabama.
Derrick Henry, Tennessee Titans
Although Derrick Henry didn’t fare well against the Denver Broncos in 2019, he pretty much torched the rest of the NFL.
If he hits the open market as a free agent, he will be the most coveted on-quarterback on the offensive side of the ball.
That could result in a payday that is simply too high for the Broncos to even consider, but why not? Henry was arguably the most physically dominant running back in the NFL last season to the tune of 1,746 yards from scrimmage and 18 total touchdowns.
Imagine adding that kind of production to the Broncos’ offense, which as a whole only scored nine more touchdowns than Derrick Henry in 2019.
There is a possibility that Henry will hit free agency, and for that to happen, the Titans have to lose the Tom Brady sweepstakes or hope the new CBA is not approved by the players. If the Titans aren’t able to sign Tom Brady, they will have to use their franchise tag on Ryan Tannehill.
If the new CBA is approved by the players, the Titans will not be able to use their two tags and will instead only have one.
If the Titans are able to land Brady, the easy decision for them is to tag Derrick Henry. Keep an eye on what the Titans do with their tag as a way to read the tea leaves about where Brady could be going, by the way.
Henry would be one free agent running back worthy of breaking the bank open for. Although it’s not popular to sign running backs to massive contracts, this guy is truly instant offense right now, and he’s capable of absolutely taking over games.
If I’m Denver, I would look into paying him upwards of $15 million per season, especially with the salary cap likely to rise substantially in the coming years. Getting Henry at that price now is going to seem borderline inconsequential in two or three seasons.
Isaiah Crowell, Las Vegas Raiders
File this one under the ‘for the right price’ category, but Isaiah Crowell is a fascinating, underrated option in free agency if he can prove he is 100 percent healthy.
Crowell has proven himself to be quite a well-rounded back in the NFL after once upon a time being dismissed from the Georgia football program and going undrafted in 2014.
He just turned 27 this year, and Crowell has some impressive numbers to his name.
Since 2014 (five seasons), he’s racked up 4,725 yards from scrimmage and 28 touchdowns.
On a per-16 game basis, Crowell is averaging 982 yards from scrimmage and six touchdowns, averaging 4.3 yards per carry.
He’s shown over the years that he can be explosive, and when the Raiders signed him in 2019, I felt like he was one of the more underrated free agent pickups in the NFL. In the 2018 season with the Jets, Crowell (who torched the Broncos, if you’ll recall) averaged 4.8 yards per carry with six touchdowns.
A big, powerful back with deceptive speed, Crowell will have to prove he’s back fully from the torn Achilles he suffered, but he’s an intriguing ‘buy low’ option if the Broncos look to free agency for running back help.