When the Denver Broncos traded up to select Javonte Williams in the second round of the 2021 NFL Draft, they brought in a tackle-breaking, yardage after contact machine. The former North Carolina star proved he could potentially be one of the best backs in the league back in his rookie season when he was absolutely running through everybody.
Unfortunately, Williams suffered a scary knee injury early in the 2022 season, and he hasn't been the same since. Over the last two seasons, Williams has appeared in 29 games and has had less than four yards per carry in a whopping 22 of those games. That's not sustainable for the Broncos, it's not sustainable for Williams, and the team needs to give carries and snaps to other players.
Over the last four games, Williams has been arguably the least effective we've seen in his entire NFL career. He had a solid game against the Atlanta Falcons with nine carries for 59 yards and a touchdown, but in the other three games?
@ Chiefs: 1 carry, 1 yard
@ Raiders: 8 carries, -2 yards
vs. Browns: 4 carries, 1 yard
That's a net of 0 yards in a three-game stretch very close together. Considering the Broncos are a legitimate contending team in the AFC right now, it's production they simply cannot justify at this point in time.
Javonte Williams might be on Broncos chopping block during the bye week
For the Broncos to only get seven games out of 29 in which their starting running back has 4.0 yards per carry or better is simply unacceptable. Some have argued that it's a lack of volume for Williams that is the reason for his struggling, but it's simply too big of a sample size to argue at this point.
Williams adds value in the passing game as a protector and he does do a good job with that. There is value to that. I don't think we'd see the Broncos straight-up cut Williams this year given the fact that anything can happen in the playoffs, but I do think they probably need to bench him and consider bringing Tyler Badie back up off of injured reserve. Things have really gotten to that point.
Jaleel McLaughlin took advantage of his opportunities on Monday night with 14 carries for 86 yards and a handful of really nice runs, including on plays in which the blocking was not good and McLaughlin just had to create on his own. That's really the area where Williams has struggled lately, not to mention he had issues this year with drops in the passing game.
He's not making anyone miss. He's not breaking tackles. He's not creating for the offense. On three of Williams' touchdowns this season, you could have driven a truck through the holes that were created for him. On the fourth touchdown, he was literally carried into the end zone by half of the offense. We're not trying to simply discredit anything good Williams has done this season, but the effectiveness is simply not there.
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The Broncos need to get the running game going at the end of this season and Williams has proven over a near-30 game sample size that he's not going to be the spark.