Broncos get surprise player back just in time for playoff clash vs. Bills

The Denver Broncos have made a handful of roster moves ahead of their postseason clash against the Buffalo Bills on Sunday afternoon. One of the moves the team made was to activate running back Tyler Badie off of injured reserve and it's possible we will see him in uniform for the first time since Week 4 against the New York Jets.

Back in Week 4, Badie suffered a scary injury that had him getting carted off the field at MetLife Stadium.

Prior to his injury, believe it or not, Badie was leading the Denver Broncos in yards after contact per carry and had just come off of a huge game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in which he had earned more carries earlier in the season.

Broncos activate running back Tyler Badie off of injured reserve before Bills game

The Broncos have five running backs on the 53-man roster now including Badie, who took the place of Frank Crum on the 53. Crum was on the injury report with an illness and was placed on the non-football injury list to end his rookie season. Hopefully everything is okay with him and we wish him the best.

For Badie, a return to the field means a potentially different dynamic from Denver's offense. We've seen Sean Payton effectively (at times) utilize all five of his backs and all six of them if you include Michael Burton.

Javonte Williams, Jaleel McLaughlin, and Audric Estimé have all been crucial for the Broncos down the stretch here this season but we also saw Blake Watson get some run against the Los Angeles Chargers. Now, Badie is back in the mix and he's been practicing the last handful of weeks. It had been rumored that he would still be shut down for this season but the timing of his activation is curious, to say the least.

Now, this could end up being totally anticlimactic and Badie could end up being inactive for the game against the Bills, but you just never know and he gives the offense another dimension and a spark with his long speed. We saw it earlier in the year against the Bills, and we've seen it in his previous opportunities as well. Badie scored a touchdown on his first-ever NFL catch.

At this stage, what tape do the Bills have (that they would have watched at this point) of Denver's offense when Badie is out there on the field? The Broncos don't need to get too cute with it because they do have other effective backs, but Sean Payton loves using different personnel groupings and if the Broncos are activating him off of IR, it's deliberate given they could have easily just activated someone else on the practice squad at another position.