The Denver Broncos today agreed to a one-year contract with free agent running back Michael Pittman. This now gives the Broncos five backs, in what is quickly becoming one of the most crowded backfields in the NFL. The Broncos now have Travis Henry, Selvin Young, Andre Hall, Ryan Torain and Pittman. Having so many backs on this team, is definitely raising question marks. You’ve got three young guys, two veterans, so who gets the touches? All you know is this. In a Mike Shanahan led offense, whomever it is will perform well.
To start, you have to think Young and Hall are absolutely safe. There’s no way either of these two are left off the Broncos roster. Young has even said if he gets the touches, he can run for 2000 yards. Safe to say, he won’t get enough touches to do that. Torain, was a fifth-round pick this year, so you would think he has a pretty good chance of being an emergency running back, or a special teams player for the team. All three have been getting plenty of touches with Henry suffering from a hamstring injury.
With that being said, you’ll have to the two veterans competing for the fourth running back spot on the roster. It’s Travis Henry vs Michael Pittman. One has to wonder, was Pittman signed solely because of Henry’s current and past injury history. Henry has missed the last 10 days, including the Broncos passing camp, because of a hamstring issue. With Henry already suffering from injuries before contact has even begun, must be worrying the coaching staff and team management. “He can’t go yet,” Shanahan said after the workout. “Those hamstrings, you never know how long it’s going to take, so I would say that chances are he’ll be ready for the June camp. He will not be ready this week.” Chances???? That DOES NOT sound good for a Henry return.
Now to his credit, Henry did start off fast out of the gates last season. But once again his problem was health, in addition to a failed drug test. He’s going to need to get healthy and perform well in camp. If not, Pittman will be leaving training camp as the Broncos veteran back. Pittman actually brings a lot to this offense, as he’s very productive at catching balls out of the backfield. “There’s a lot of ways Michael can help the Broncos,” Rosenhaus said. “He can play fullback, halfback, he can catch the ball out of the backfield, return punts and return kicks. He’s a versatile back.”
This signing could be both good and bad for young Selvin Young thou. Let’s see what could be good? Pittman takes the roster spot of an injured Henry. The good out of that would be Young would not have to lose out to a healthy Henry getting most of the carries. Young would be the featured back. The downside is if Pittman makes the team, he’d definitely take a good chunk of Young’s touches himself. Pittman would be featured a lot more in situations that would call for screen passes, or even formations that could lead to a screen, just to keep the defenses honest. The extreme downside is a healthy Henry and keeping Pittman, if both of those happen Young’s total carries from last year may take a decent drop.
This will definitely be one positional battle around the NFL to keep an eye on this summer. The Broncos have a ton of bodies, productive bodies. Like I said earlier thou, we all know whomever this team goes with, the back will produce. Let the fun begin!
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