During his end-of-season press conference earlier this week, Denver Broncos coach Sean Payton was asked if the team needed a bell-cow running back.
Payton rejected the notion of an every-down workhorse running back, noting that he — and most teams — use multiple backs.
“I understand the committee,” Payton said. “I’m used to having two. We’re going to have more than just one back. We’re going to stack that position group. It’s too hard in our league to play with just one, rarely does a team do it. Occasionally it happens. Certainly, we’ll have a chance to evaluate when we get to the offseason evaluation process where we feel like we are at with each position, certainly that’s an important position.
“I’m not ready to today give you our must-needs and wants. We’re two weeks away, and even two weeks from now, I’m still not going to give them to you. We’ll go through that process, and we’ll look closely at what we think we still need, what we have to have and then what we want to have. That only comes after evaluating our own roster. We’re just not there yet.”
Some fans and pundits have interpreted Payton’s comments as a sign that Denver won’t target a big-name running back in 2025. That interpretation seems flawed, as Markus Boggs of theBPAshow pointed out on Twitter/X:
Idk why people assume this doesn’t mean that they could still draft a RB high. You can have a a Kamara and still have an Ingram or a Sproles. To me, we have the Sproles, we have a potential Ingram in Estime and we just need to find a Kamara https://t.co/FhoXhhiac1
— 🄱🄾🄶🄶🄸🄽🅂 (@Mr_Boggins) January 15, 2025
Payton has utilized multiple running backs throughout his career, but that doesn’t rule out the possibility of also having a star RB1, such as Alvin Kamara.
The Broncos have four running backs under contract for 2025 — Jaleel McLaughlin, Audric Estime, Tyler Badie and Blake Watson. None of them are clearly RB1 caliber, so the team will likely add to the position this spring.
Despite Payton’s comments about using a committee approach, it would not be surprising to see Denver go after a top RB in the NFL draft, perhaps even Ashton Jeanty. Fans should not misunderstand the Broncos’ approach. Using multiple RBs does not rule out the possibility of making a big RB splash in 2025.
