SANTA CLARA, Calif. — The last time the world should’ve seen Audric Estime, they didn’t see him.
He’s a hard man to miss. The biggest running back on Denver’s roster, after all. The Broncos spent a fifth-round pick on him in 2024 for this 227-pound frame. And yet in the most prominent game of his rookie year — a week after he picked up 12 carries against the Chiefs — head coach Sean Payton scratched him for the Broncos’ wild-card game at Buffalo.
It was a blow to his backfield standing. It was an unceremonious end to a rookie year that waxed and then waned. But seven months later, the 21-year-old Estime has little time to think about the past. He’s currently fighting for his Broncos life to stay visible in Denver.
“No comment on that,” Estime responded Saturday night when asked if the Buffalo scratch surprised him.
Did it give him any sort of motivation this offseason, he was asked a couple of questions later.
“I’m not going to lie to you, I haven’t really thought of that,” Estime said. “Because last year was last year. That’s in the past. I just saw new opportunities — 2025 is a new season, and I was just focused on that this whole offseason.
“And as of right now, I honestly don’t remember that.”
His reward for turning a new leaf was the Broncos turning one, too. In Saturday’s preseason game against San Francisco, the first taste of a new-look backfield that features rookie RJ Harvey and free-agent J.K. Dobbins, Estime was fifth in line for reps. Behind Jaleel McLaughlin, the 2023 undrafted free agent who’s become a Payton regular. Behind Tyler Badie, a one-time practice-squad signee.
Still, the 21-year-old Estime emphasized there was “no frustration” from him on Denver’s backfield additions.
“I’m just blessed to be in this position,” he said. “And I’m just gonna keep fighting, and keep going.”
After he picked up just 21 yards on a team-high eight carries in the second half Saturday, Estime’s path to a roster spot is tricky. He offers one specific trait that nobody else in the room quite has: sheer power. He put rookie linebacker Jordan Turner through the grass on one training camp rep. He runs with a style, as Payton said, “a little bit more forward, a little heavier.”
He is big and powerful, Estime affirms. But he also doesn’t want to constrain his game. And on Saturday, he showed a flash of something the world hadn’t seen last year: a 20-yard catch-and-run, making a San Francisco defender whiff in space.
“Be able to be out there on third down, be able to run routes, be able to catch the ball, I feel like I can do it at a high level,” Estime said.
It’s not a fluke. Estime’s been working out of the backfield on dump-offs all camp. It’s a product of this offseason, when Estime reviewed his tape from a five-catch rookie year. He consulted his trainers. He consulted Broncos running backs coach Lou Ayeni. He came away feeling he’d grown every area of his game, and a key metaphysical belief, too.
“Just be more confident in myself,” Estime said, “and know that you can do whatever is required of you.
“And I can do it in this league. I can be a three-down back.”
The question is whether he can do it in Denver. Dobbins was brought in from Los Angeles specifically because he can be a three-down back. He has veteran traits in pass-protection and between-the-tackles shiftiness. Harvey got the lion’s share of early reps Saturday, particularly outside-zone carries that let the rookie attack the edge of San Francisco’s defense.
“More reps I get, the more comfortable I am,” Harvey told The Denver Post on Saturday night while walking out of the locker room. “And I’m just going to keep getting better and better.”
Payton will have to sort out a three-headed change-of-pace mess between McLaughlin, Badie and Watson, all of whom offer their own blends of pass-catching, burst and pass-protection. Estime floats somewhere in the mix, a runner with pedigree carrying the outlines of a three-down back but needing the time to color it in.
“The key for us is to make sure that all of those guys,” Payton said on Badie, Watson and Estime, “are getting enough reps where they can help us in the end.”
This August very likely won’t mark the end of Estime in the NFL, one way or another. It will, however, determine his future in Denver.
“I feel like I definitely got better from last year,” Estime said. “I’m playing faster, and just looking good. Just gotta keep going.”
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