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Denver Broncos: Historical look at 5 times team brought in a big-name RB

By Travis Wakeman

Gaston Green runs through a hole during a game against Cleveland on December 8, 1991.
Gaston Green runs through a hole during a game against Cleveland on December 8, 1991. /
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ATLANTA, GA – OCTOBER 9: Gaston Green #30 of the Los Angeles Rams carries the ball against the Atlanta Falcons during an NFL football game on October 9, 1988, at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. Green played for the Rams from 1988-890. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images)
ATLANTA, GA – OCTOBER 9: Gaston Green #30 of the Los Angeles Rams carries the ball against the Atlanta Falcons during an NFL football game on October 9, 1988, at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia. Green played for the Rams from 1988-890. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images) /

Gaston Green

When Gaston Green was chosen with the No. 14 overall pick of the 1988 NFL draft out of UCLA by the Los Angeles Rams, it seemed like a match made in heaven.

Green left the school as the all-time leading rusher in Bruins history and had also set the school record for touchdown runs with 37. A native of Los Angeles, Green likely could not have envisioned a more perfect scenario than to be drafted by the Rams.

But things just did not work out there.

Head coach John Robinson preferred to give much more work to the likes of Cleveland Gary and Robert Delpino (who would also go on to join the Broncos) over Green. The first-round pick Green just never seemed to mesh with what the Rams were trying to do.

In 31 games with the Rams, Green carried the ball just 129 times for 451 yards.

In April 1991, the Rams, who clearly felt Green was a bust, traded the running back to the Broncos along with a fourth-round pick in that year’s draft in exchange for offensive tackle Gerald Perry and a twelfth-round pick from the Broncos.

The Broncos were looking for a replacement for Humphrey, who decided to hold out for more money following the 1990 season. That holdout lasted well into the season and by the time he returned, Green had taken his job.

Green was quite effective in Denver, rushing for 1,037 yards in 1991. That season, he finished sixth in the league in rushing yards and Thurman Thomas was the only back in the AFC who had more than Green.

Green joined Thomas and Marion Butts on the AFC Pro Bowl roster that season after helping the Broncos reach the AFC Championship Game.

Green only played two seasons in Denver, but that 1991 season was special and though easily forgotten nearly 30 years later, it was one of the better seasons a running back had posted in Denver to that point.

Overall result: Worked out

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