SANTA CLARA, Calif. — RJ Harvey didn’t have to wait long to get his first taste of the NFL.
The Broncos’ rookie running back played early and often in his first preseason game and showed the kind of burst Denver’s running game lacked over Sean Payton’s first two seasons in Denver.
There’s only so much to take from a game played on Aug. 9, of course, but Payton’s deployment of his top two backs sets up an interesting couple of weeks going forward.
Harvey started for the Broncos on Saturday night against San Francisco and handled most of the early and mixed-down work over the starting group’s three drives.
Veteran J.K. Dobbins primarily served as Denver’s third-down back — he’s easily the group’s most reliable pass-protector — in addition to a couple of early down snaps.
Payton, though, clearly wanted to get Harvey the ball a lot in his first professional game action.
The second-round pick out of Central Florida carried the ball seven times for 25 yards and had a catch, too. Dobbins, meanwhile, didn’t get a handoff but caught one pass for 4 yards.
Overall, Harvey showed signs of the explosiveness and vision that Payton and general manager George Paton fell in love with during the draft process.
He also showed perhaps too much reliance on bouncing the ball outside and was strung out a couple of times by the 49ers reserve defenders.
A 7-yard gain on an outside zone’s not going to make many highlight reels, but it was the kind of play the Broncos haven’t often had and the type of run that, if it can be counted on consistently, could be a staple of this offense.
The Broncos aren’t likely to be confused with Kyle Shanahan’s outside zone-heavy unit any time soon — Payton’s always used a mix of run concepts — but players have talked through camp about it being something the offense is trying to do more of during training camp.
“We’ve tweaked some things,” tight end Adam Trautman said earlier in training camp. “I think we’ve always wanted to be kind of an outside zone team, and we’re just kind of committing to it.”
Harvey and Dobbins handled all of the work with the top offense through the first quarter before Jaleel McLaughlin became the third man into the game when QB Jarrett Stidham and the No. 2 offensive line took over in the second quarter.
The long look at Harvey came as the top offensive group had a sluggish outing overall.
Bo Nix’s three drives finished with a punt, a safety — Nix was called for intentional grounding in the end zone under duress — and a field goal, and generated just 56 yards in 18 total snaps.
The second-year quarterback completed 6 of 11 passes for 31 yards. Notably, two of the completions went to rising second-year receiver Troy Franklin, including a 9-yard crossing route to convert a fourth-and-5.
Overall, though, it was not a pretty start for Payton’s offense playing against mostly 49ers backups.
Denver’s vaunted defense, meanwhile, let Mac Jones engineer an opening touchdown drive — a 50-yard slot fade completion on third down over Ja’Quan McMillian’s head highlighted the march — before settling in.
The starting group only played one more possession, and it ended quickly, compliments of star OLB Nik Bonitto. He sacked Jones on the first two snaps of the drive and then chased him 25 yards into the backfield before Jones heaved the ball out of bounds for a three-and-out.
McMillian made up for giving up the big play on San Francisco’s third drive, intercepting Jones by jumping an out-breaking route along Denver’s sideline.
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