Who will be the most productive rookie for the Denver Broncos not named Bo Nix?

Bo Nix will be the headline for the Denver Broncos for most of the 2024 season. They haven't had a rookie quarterback with this much hype since Jay Cutler in 2006. Paxton Lynch and Drew Lock were names that fizzled out early while Chad Kelly never saw the field. Regardless, Nix and the other past quarterbacks aside, which Broncos rookie(s) could we see hit the ground running strong early on in the 2024 season?

A couple of names come to mind pretty easily. Audric Estimé and Troy Franklin. Now, these two, unlike Nix, are not slotted into every down roles early on. At least, not at the moment. Estimé is behind Williams, Perine, and McLaughlin. Franklin, if Sutton inks a new deal, will be at best the third wide receiver on the depth chart. For Franklin, he at least can be used in multiple schemes given the complexity of the sub-positions for receivers. Estimé however is built and runs similarly to Williams who undoubtedly will be the first running back on the field. 

That said, Payton made it known that he views Estimé as a first and second-down running back. He also could carry more support from Payton given he was his draft pick this year. However, this wouldn't be much of a conversation if Williams hadn't gone down with a knee injury a couple of seasons ago. After returning to the field, Williams didn't appear to be the same player as he was before the injury. Jaleel McLaughlin, an undrafted rookie last year, provided some much-needed burst and elusiveness to the backfield this past year but his sample size at the moment is just too little to chalk up as an every-down back. He also doesn't support the same physical build or size for every down dole that notoriously gets beat up as the season goes on. 

Estimé could provide the Broncos with exactly what Payton said he envisioned. A first and second down back. In today's game, most backfields are a committee anyway. Unless you have someone like McCaffrey in San Fransisco, your backfield at minimum will have two guys capable of getting their own. It keeps the workload down while splitting the hits between multiple players. Not to mention the all-scary real injuries that can happen. Having too many options is a much easier issue to deal with than not having enough. 

Both Franklin and Estimé should be able to provide some much-needed offensive firepower early on. Franklin carries that chemistry with Nix from their time in Oregon while Estimé brings a terrifying presence to the backfield as an absolute bruiser to bring down. The Broncos need as many weapons for Nix to succeed and I think they've accomplished that so far.