Oakland Raiders: Stacking up the running backs against the AFC West

Denver Broncos

Key Contributors: Devontae Booker, Royce Freeman, De’Angelo Henderson

Like the Chargers, the Broncos have an extreme lack of depth in their backfield. Rather than ranking them below Los Angeles, who is ranked third, we’ll just call them 3B in the AFC West.

Just as Los Angeles’ lack of depth in the backfield has come back to bite them time and time again, it’s as big of a problem for Denver as well. And it will be an even bigger problem for them as the offseason saw the departure of last season’s leading rusher, C.J. Anderson.

Behind Anderson last year, the Broncos actually had the league’s twelfth-ranked rushing attack. Unfortunately for them, behind Trevor Siemian and Paxton Lynch, they also had one of the league’s worst passing attacks, which pretty much washes out Anderson‘s efforts.

Denver’s running game this year will be centered on third-year pro Booker, who took a back seat to Anderson last yea, garnering only 79 carries. His rookie season saw him rush for 612 yards on 174 carries – for a less than stellar average of 3.5 yards per carry.

The Broncos also return last year’s sixth-round pick De’Angelo Henderson who amassed a whopping 13 yards on seven carries last season.

Next: Recent Rankings Of WR Group Ridiculously Low

The addition of former Oregon Duck Royce Freeman in the third-round should help add a little pop to Denver’s run game, but it still leaves the Broncos with a lack of depth and options.

Though Denver is expecting better production from the passing game with the addition of Case Keenum, they may have the opposite problem they did last year and be hurt by the lack of a proven and reliable running game.