Broncos RB battle might look over, but Melvin Gordon isn’t giving up

The Denver Broncos are high on running back Javonte Williams.

So is the local media, national media and everyone who’s drafting a fantasy football team for 2022.

But don’t count out Melvin Gordon just yet. The Broncos “other” running back, who’s had two consecutive productive years in Denver, hears the chatter. When speaking after practice on Wednesday, he was asked about how he thinks the carries will go between him and Williams. Gordon isn’t giving up hope he can still be the guy for the Broncos this season.

“My mindset is just to kind of go out here and just compete, go as hard as I can. I kind of don’t know what the future holds as far as with that, but I just want to put my best foot forward so when I do go out there they be like, ‘okay we need to get him out here more.’ I know I’ve got the game. I know I can play and still got the juice, man. But we’ll see, I really don’t know,” Gordon said.

Williams, a second-year player out of North Carolina and former second-round draft pick, rushed for 903 yards a season ago on 203 carries. Somehow Gordon also carried the ball exactly 203 times, finishing with 918 yards. He scored eight rushing touchdowns while Williams had four. Still, he know it feels like the plan for head coach Nathaniel Hackett is to feature Williams.

“I think, to be honest, they kind of had a plan on what they want. As far as the rotation goes, I really don’t know. I think they want Javonte to probably be the guy. But we do rotate. He’ll take the first series and then the second series with the ones I’ll take. Sometimes we switch, but you kind of know what it is if you’ve been out here (at practice). But I don’t know how they’re going to do the rotation. I’ve got to go back and look at how they did things in Green Bay with carries and things like that,” Gordon said.

The Packers reference is, of course, about Hackett spending the last few years as Green Bay’s offensive coordinator. That backfield was a two-headed monster, featuring both Aaron Jones and A.J. Dillon in the run and passing games. Gordon says how it all shakes out with him and Williams is important.

“It matters. I’m a competitor, man. I come here, I want to compete. I want to do all the right things, try to say all the right things. Kind of know what it is at times, unfortunately, but I’m still a competitor at the end of the day. You kind of take that away and the love’s kind of gone. In my head every day I kind of tell myself that’s not the case. It’s the NFL, you have to earn it and that’s what I tell myself every day. Nothing’s given,” Gordon said.

While neither is expected to play in the preseason, it will be curious to see how the carries are divided Week 1 in Seattle.

The Broncos and Seahawks showdown on Monday Night Football is just 26 days away. Both Williams and Gordon will be ready to go.
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