The Broncos will have to move on from their former second-round pick during the bye week

When the Denver Broncos took Javonte Williams in the second round of the 2021 NFL Draft, they brought a tackle-breaking, yard-after-contact machine into the game. The former North Carolina star proved in his rookie season that he could potentially be one of the best defenders in the league when he beat absolutely everyone.

Unfortunately, Williams suffered a horrific knee injury at the start of the 2022 season and he hasn’t been the same since. Over the last two seasons, Williams appeared in 29 games and had fewer than four yards per carry in a whopping 22 of those games. This is unsustainable for the Broncos, it is unsustainable for Williams and the team needs to give carries and snaps to other players.

Over the last four games, Williams has been arguably the least effective we’ve seen in his entire NFL career. He had a solid game against the Atlanta Falcons with nine carries for 59 yards and a touchdown, but in the other three games?

@Chiefs: 1 carry, 1 yard
@Raiders: 8 carries, -2 yards
vs. Browns: 4 runs, 1 yard

That’s a net of 0 yards in a span of three very close games. Considering the Broncos are currently a legitimate contending team in the AFC, they simply can’t justify their performance at this point.

The fact that the Broncos only play seven of 29 games in which their starting running back has 4.0 yards per carry or more is simply unacceptable. Some have argued that Williams’ lack of volume is the reason for his struggles, but the sample size is simply too large to argue at this point.

Williams adds value as a protector in the passing game and does a good job at it. That has its value. Given that anything can happen in the playoffs, I don’t think the Broncos will cut Williams outright this year, but I think they probably need to bench him and think about adding Tyler Badie back from injured reserve fetch . Things have really come to this.

Jaleel McLaughlin took advantage of his opportunities Monday night with 14 carries for 86 yards and a handful of really nice runs, even on plays where the blocking wasn’t good and McLaughlin just had to do it on his own. That’s really the area where Williams has struggled lately, not to mention he’s struggled with dips in the passing game this year.

He doesn’t let anyone miss him. He doesn’t break tackles. He doesn’t prepare for the offensive. With three touchdowns from Williams this season, you could have driven a truck through the holes created for him. On the fourth touchdown, half of the offense literally carried him into the end zone. We don’t want to simply discredit anything good Williams has done this season, but the effectiveness just isn’t there.

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