By the time the Denver Broncos walked off the field following an AFC Wild Card loss to the Buffalo Bills in January, the writing was already on the wall for running back Javonte Williams.
You didn’t need to be a high powered NFL executive to realize his time with the Broncos had come to an end — compliments of a lackluster season in which he was the featured back and came up short over and over again.
Williams, once thought of as one of the NFL’s elite young running backs, eventually landed with the Dallas Cowboys on a 1-year, $3 million free agent contract. That was immediately followed by the Cowboy signing another free agent in Pro Bowler Miles Sanders and drafting 2 more running backs in Jaydon Blue and Phil Mafah.
Throughout the offseason and training camp, more often than not, Williams has found his name put behind Blue and Sanders in sort of a pre-death football obituary that saw him everywhere from dropped on the depth chart to off the roster altogether.
Lo and behold, when the rubber hit the road, it was Williams who was front and center for the Cowboys in their season opener on September 4 against the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles. And it was Williams who walked away from a 24-20 loss with a new esteem in the eyes of many after leading the Cowboys with 54 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns. He also had 2 receptions for 10 yards.
“The Cowboys had six rushing touchdowns last year,” ESPN’s Todd Archer wrote on his official X account on September 4. “They have two in two drives so far tonight from Javonte Williams. They did not have two rushing touchdowns in the same game last year.”
Catastrophic Knee Injury Hampered Progress
While Williams led the Broncos in rushing for the second consecutive season with 513 rushing yards in 2024, he averaged just 3.7 yards per carry. It was a considerable step back from 2023, when he led the team with 774 rushing yards but still averaged just 3.6 yards per carry.
The Broncos selected Williams in the second round (No. 35 overall) of the 2021 NFL draft out of Oklahoma and he flashed big time potential as a rookie with 1,219 yards of total offense and 7 touchdowns. He was averaging almost 100 yards of total offense per game in 2022 before he suffered a catastrophic knee injury in Week 4, tearing his ACL, LCL and PCL against the Las Vegas Raiders.
Since his return from that injury, Williams has hardly seemed like the same player he was before he got hurt.
Broncos Brought In Duo Of High Profile RBs
If Williams has something to prove in 2025, so do the 2 running backs brought in to replace him in Denver. The Broncos are trying to make the playoffs for the second consecutive season after not making it for 9 consecutive years.
Denver drafted a similar running back to Williams in the second round (No. 60 overall) of the 2025 NFL draft with UCF’s RJ Harvey and signed another running back similar to Williams in free agent veteran JK Dobbins.
Dobbins, who rushed for 900 yards for the Los Angeles Chargers in 2024, is listed on the depth chart as the starter for Denver’s regular season opener against the Tennessee Titans on Sunday, September 7, in Denver.
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