Javonte Williams will see game action earlier than expected

The Denver Broncos appear to have a great running back in Javonte Williams, but just when the 23-year-old was breaking out; he busted up his knee.

Held to four games last season, Williams is on the mend and quicker than anyone expected.

Williams tore his ACL, LCL and needed total reconstructive surgery of his right knee. A significant amount of time, potentially more than a calendar year was expected to be spent recovering. But somehow, someway Williams has been hanging with the first-teamers in camp and is now expected to be available for the first preseason game, possibly playing in games two or three. Meaning Williams should now be a full go for Week 1 of the regular season.

“He’ll get reps,” Sean Payton said on Thursday. “It may be we wait until Week 2, we haven’t gone through the outline of the plays yet. I like how he’s progressing.”

Sean Payton said Javonte will play some in preseason, might wait till 2nd preseason game #9sports pic.twitter.com/GqP5mZc8Su

— Mike Klis (@mikeklis) August 3, 2023

The Broncos open the preseason against the Cardinals, a week from Friday and then travel to the 49ers on August 19.

Williams has 1107 yards over 21 NFL games, only five of which were starts. He’s rushed for four touchdowns and snagged three more. Denver signed 27-year-old Samaje Perine to help Williams in the backfield after much of 2022 was spent looking for answers at tailback.

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