The Denver Broncos play the Seattle Seahawks Saturday night and while all of the focus will be on Peyton Manning, the Broncos will still run the ball. The good news it they are very deep at the running back position and have some tough decisions to make in the coming weeks. It all starts with the veteran, Willis McGahee who is coming off of his best season in years. McGahee ran for almost 1,200 yards in 2011 despite facing eight and nine man defensive fronts all season. With Manning in the fold, McGahee will now be running against five and six man fronts, and is likely to see much more open field. He has looked great in training camp, running hard and physical. Manning has renewed a lot of hopes of a lot of people in Denver, McGahee might be first on that list.
Behind McGahee is a veteran and a rookie, both bring something unique to the table. Lance Ball is the veteran who is a true professional and he is just good at everything. Ball can spell McGahee for a couple of plays, catch the ball out of the backfield, pick up the blitz and plays on special teams. The running back that has fans excited is rookie, Ronnie Hillman. Hillman has been troubled by a hamstring injury in camp and will not play versus the Seahawks, but his talent fits perfectly with what Manning and the Broncos want to do. Hillman is fast, is a great receiver out of the backfield and will be very difficult to tackle in the open field. Having said all of that, Hillman has to get healthy and stay healthy. The good news is he went through the light practice on Friday and should return to full practice on Monday. If Hillman is healthy, he is one of those backs who can turn a five yard swing pass into a fifty yard touchdown.
That leaves one spot, most likely, for three players. The first of those is Knowshon Moreno, the first draft pick of former coach Josh McDaniels. Moreno has never been the player some thought he would be coming out of college, and is now coming off of an ACL injury. Moreno does catch the ball well and once he is in the open field, he can be dangerous. The problem is he doesn’t run well between the tackles and is far too easy to tackle. Moreno still has some work to do to make this team. Jeremiah Johnson is a player that just won’t go away, everyone cuts him before training camp every year and then he makes the team every year. Johnson, like Ball, does multiple things well and just does whatever he is asked to do.
Now comes the wild card in, Xavier Omon. Coaches say before every training camp that there will be one guy that comes out of nowhere to make the team, that guy might be Omon this season. He provides some power in short yardage situations and runs hard. If Omon can have another game or two like the one he had versus the Chicago Bears, then he has a real shot to make this team.
The top three running backs are set but the last one is up for grabs and it is a three-way race,
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