Javonte Williams running free and clear without a brace

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Every step of the journey Javonte Williams traversed from two torn ligaments suffered last October in Las Vegas has been remarkable — from the speed at which he checked off mile markers along the way to the fact that he found himself back in the starting lineup when the regular season began last Sunday.

But one sight in that game came as a mild surprise: the absence of a brace on his knee.

For Javonte Williams — fewer than 12 months removed from that injury — wanted to move as freely as possible. So, during the joint practices  against the Los Angeles Rams Aug. 23 and 24, he decided to try working without a brace.

“Once I took it off against the Rams, I was like, ‘I’m done with this,’” Williams recalled, smiling. “I threw it in the trash.”

And what of the team’s medical staff? How did they feel about Williams ditching the brace?

”You know how that go,” Williams said. “But I mean, once I showed them that I was confident in it, playing, doing all the stuff I usually did, it was pretty good.”

BUT JAVONTE WILLIAMS BELIEVED HIS FIRST GAME BACK WAS ONLY ‘DECENT’

Further, being on the field for 13 carries and 52 yards last Sunday — that was a victory in and of itself. It wasn’t a vintage Williams day, of course; he didn’t log any “angry runs” to go viral on social media and leave NFL Network atwitter. But he mostly looked like his old self.

“I had a decent game. I wouldn’t say it was good,” Williams said. “I felt like I could have had a lot more yards. There were some reads where I could have probably bounced or did something different.

“But it’s going to come. As the season goes on, we’re going to get better.”

And so will his knee and the flexibility it has.

“Mentally and physically, [it was good] just being able to bend my knee all the way without having the brace to hinder it, and just the weight that the brace adds on was slowing me down,” Williams said.

“So, just being out there free, it felt like last year.”

FOR WILLIAMS, THE REHAB WORK IS NOT DONE

Still, Williams will travel two paths this season: the one focused on the game and play at hand, and another that involves completing his rehabilitation work. Because that remains, even though the club cleared him for game-time repetitions last month.

He learned that lesson from current and former teammates who recovered from ACL tears of their own.

”Guys like Essang [Bassey], [Bradley] Chubb, other players that already tore their ACL and things like that, they would always tell me, ‘Even though it’s feeling good now, just make sure you stay on top of it,’” Williams said.

That shouldn’t be a problem. The arduous recovery and strengthening work bore fruit in his quick return to action. But it also taught Williams something about himself.

“I just found out I had a lot of perseverance,” he said. “I got a good support team around me. My family was there every step of the way. There was some good days, some bad days.”

Last Sunday was somewhere in between. Like he said, “decent.” The Broncos lost, but the offense showed progress in its ability to sustain drives. And Williams’ per-carry average of 4.0 yards was fine … but not as good as he’d like. The explosive, tackle-bursting runs on which he made his name didn’t happen Sunday.

“There was definitely a lot more runs out there. We could have had a lot more explosive plays. That’s something that Coach [Sean Paytin] talked about a lot this week — having more explosives,” Williams said.

That will come with time.

But based on his recovery, probably less time than anyone would think.

***