For two decades in this coaching business, Sean Payton has tucked his play-calling card snugly against his chest.
Two weeks into this Broncos training camp, though, Payton’s men in the trenches may have tipped his hand.
By most every public indication, Denver’s ground game will look substantially different in 2025. Not just because of new personnel. All-Pro guard Quinn Meinerz dropped the first breadcrumb, noting last week the team’s run-game philosophy has “changed a little bit” entering 2025. Days later, offensive line buddy Garett Bolles left another hint, asserting that stretching out the Broncos’ outside ground game was an “emphasis” heading into training camp.
On Thursday, tight end Adam Trautman stamped it.
“I think we’ve always wanted to be an outside-zone team,” Trautman said, “and we’re just kind of committing to it.”
This Broncos front has long developed the mobility and depth to buoy an outside-zone-heavy attack — a concept that requires blockers to seal off defenders at an angle, allowing a back to bounce through outside holes. But according to Pro Football Focus data compiled by The Denver Post, only six teams ran a smaller percentage of run plays outside the tackles or flanking tight end. The Broncos finished just 22nd of 32 teams in yards-per-carry on those attempts, a particularly weak point of a mediocre ground game last season.
“We’ve gotta be more explosive in that area,” Payton said Tuesday. “And so, we first look at ourselves, the scheme, and are we doing it the way we want to? And then we’re looking at, who are we asking to do it with?
“And, obviously, we’ve added some players in the running-back room. And we’re going to be much-improved in that area.”
The question here: Was the Broncos’ lack of outside explosiveness in 2024 due to schematic emphasis, or an absence of backfield burst? Chicken, or egg?
Ultimately, both.
Payton has long been at the forefront of offensive innovation in the NFL, with New Orleans Saints-era teams utilizing a variety of formations and motion predicated on quick decisions. As peers like Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay have increasingly popularized outside zone in modern offenses, though, Payton attacked the edges in the ground game much less frequently in 2024 than his first two seasons in Denver.
He simply didn’t have the backs to make that concept a consistent success last year. Leading rusher Javonte Williams couldn’t regularly beat defenses to the corner, averaging just three yards a carry when hitting outside gaps, according to PFF data.
The result? A backfield that cumulatively notched a single-run high of 43 yards, courtesy of Tyler Badie, who carried the ball 13 times and was promptly knocked out for the rest of the year with injury.
Suddenly, Denver’s backfield has a drastically different identity. Perhaps by design. Payton and general manager George Payton lauded second-round back RJ Harvey’s explosiveness after drafting him in the second round in April, and Harvey’s broken off a few side-to-side jump-cuts in camp that the Broncos didn’t see much of last year. Free-agent signee J.K. Dobbins, meanwhile, averaged 5.5 yards a carry when bouncing runs outside of a blocking tight end for the Chargers last year.
“J.K. brings some sh–,” Trautman said, catching himself mid-word. “I’ll say it. J.K. brings some (expletive).”
Toss in returning change-of-pace back Jaleel McLaughlin, and Denver suddenly has multiple runners who can detonate on outside zone plays.
“That’s something that we took pride in working on this offseason,” McLaughlin said Friday.
They got Dobbins in the room, as Bolles pointed out this week, for a reason. Harvey can hit a hole. So can change-of-pace stalwart McLaughlin. Second-year backs Audric Estime and Blake Watson have popped a few runs around tackles in training camp, too.
“It’s fun to watch those guys scream around the edge,” Bolles said, “and give us the yards that we need to win football games.”
Outside the box
The Broncos ran among the fewest outside runs in the league last season and didn’t gain many yards when such plays were called. (Click here to view chart in mobile.)
| Team | % of Outside Runs* | Yards/Carry on Outside Runs |
|---|---|---|
| Ravens | 48.9 | 6.09 |
| Buccaneers | 42.1 | 5.50 |
| Eagles | 34.6 | 5.39 |
| Falcons | 36.9 | 5.23 |
| Cardinals | 50.7 | 5.20 |
| Saints | 44.3 | 4.79 |
| Panthers | 35.2 | 4.77 |
| Colts | 40.9 | 4.76 |
| Bills | 38.6 | 4.69 |
| 49ers | 37.6 | 4.68 |
| Jets | 40.0 | 4.65 |
| Vikings | 42.1 | 4.61 |
| Patriots | 37.5 | 4.60 |
| Commanders | 35.0 | 4.56 |
| Packers | 40.9 | 4.47 |
| Texans | 42.5 | 4.40 |
| Raiders | 36.4 | 4.39 |
| Rams | 41.5 | 4.20 |
| Seahawks | 40.7 | 4.16 |
| Dolphins | 45.1 | 4.09 |
| Lions | 40.1 | 4.09 |
| Broncos | 35.6 | 4.04 |
| Giants | 37.3 | 4.03 |
| Steelers | 43.6 | 4.03 |
| Titans | 45.5 | 4.01 |
| Browns | 32.9 | 3.97 |
| Chargers | 42.1 | 3.87 |
| Bengals | 38.2 | 3.86 |
| Bears | 44.7 | 3.68 |
| Jaguars | 39.6 | 3.60 |
| Cowboys | 34.0 | 3.58 |
| Chiefs | 35.0 | 3.46 |
* Runs that go outside the tackle or tight end. | Source: Pro Football Focus
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