Broncos' playoff scenarios, RB conundrum and Garett Bolles' future: Mailbag

The Denver Broncos are enjoying a long-awaited bye in Week 14. That makes this a perfect time to answer your questions in a mailbag. Let’s dive right in.

Note: Submitted questions have been lightly edited for clarity and length. 

It looks like the three-headed approach to the running back position isn’t working. It also appears that Saquon Barkley and Derrick Henry make awfully good arguments for teams returning to a Terrell Davis-type bell cow approach to the position, which, frankly, has always made the most sense to me. Assuming Javonte Williams can no longer be considered RB1, which of the other two — Jaleel McLaughlin or Audric Estimé — can realistically be the team’s No. 1, and nearly only, running back? — Alan V.

There were a lot of questions about running backs this week, so I’ll use Alan’s as a vehicle to talk about the position at large. It has been an interesting year for the Broncos in the running game. As I wrote last week, the Broncos have had five leading rushers this season, their most since 2010. At various times it has seemed like Williams, Estimé or even Tyler Badie were angling toward more of a lead role. Recently, it’s been McLaughlin, who has led the Broncos in rushing in their past two games, who appears to be taking that mantle.

But the bottom line is the Broncos don’t have anyone resembling Barkley or Henry in the backfield. Those teams ride one running back because that one running back is elite. Coach Sean Payton has shown a willingness to give a running back big carries when he has that guy. In 2021, for example, New Orleans Saints running back Alvin Kamara ranked fifth in the NFL at 18.5 carries per game. Without that presence, usage of the running backs for Payton and his staff is game-plan driven. After last week’s win against the Cleveland Browns, Payton said the Broncos believed they could attack Cleveland’s defense with sweeps and toss plays. That made McLaughlin the right choice, and he delivered with a career-high 84 yards rushing on 14 carries. That will probably continue to be how the Broncos handle the running back position. Who best fits the specific things they are trying to do schematically?

Williams appears to have hit a wall as a runner. He has carried the ball 12 times for minus-1 yard across his last two games. But he is also Denver’s best pass protector, and he has taken huge leaps in that area this season. That earns trust from a coaching staff that prioritizes avoiding sacks, seemingly guaranteeing snaps — if not a high volume of carries — for Williams. You can think of him as a fill-in for the role Samaje Perine had last season.

The big question for me is when the Broncos will begin leaning on Estimé as their primary short-yardage back. The Broncos have not been good in those scenarios this season. They rank 22nd in the NFL in efficiency on second- and third-down runs with 3 or fewer yards to gain, according to TruMedia. The Broncos turned only two of seven such rushing attempts into first downs against the Browns, but Estimé did not have any of those carries. The rookie converted a huge third-and-1 with a 6-yard gain during Denver’s final drive against the Kansas City Chiefs last month — a possession that would have won the game for Denver had Wil Lutz’s field goal not been blocked — and has probably earned a longer look in that role.

Will Garett Bolles get an extension? — Steve F.

This was another popular inquiry this week. Bolles is putting together another strong season, this time in a contract year. He has allowed only 14 pressures and one sack among his 481 pass-blocking snaps, according to TruMedia, and he played a major role in limiting the impact of Browns star pass rusher Myles Garrett in last week’s win.

The lowest pressure rates allowed so far this season pic.twitter.com/sRqMopXUE7

— PFF (@PFF) December 5, 2024

Bolles has expressed a desire to spend his entire career in Denver. He was a first-round pick here in 2017 and is on the verge of his first winning season — and perhaps first playoff appearance — since entering the league. The Broncos appear willing to let Bolles test the market in free agency. There have been no public declarations to that effect, but the Broncos could have freed up valuable cap space during a financial squeeze of an offseason by extending him but chose not to. Since then, the Broncos have given extensions to right guard Quinn Meinerz, cornerback Pat Surtain II and outside linebacker Jonathon Cooper. They’ll need to ponder possible extensions this offseason for pass rusher Nik Bonitto and wide receiver Courtland Sutton, too.

I’d imagine the Broncos will be interested in retaining Bolles. He’ll be 33 next season, but he has been durable throughout his career and has shown no obvious signs of an athletic drop-off. Denver has built continuity on its offensive line and has all four starters to the right of Bolles under contract for next season. Re-signing Bolles would fill a huge potential need that could make the Broncos more nimble with their first-round pick and allow them to pursue other options in free agency.

But as is always the case, it will probably come down to whether the sides can agree on Bolles’ value at this stage in his career. It’s no doubt a huge item on Denver’s offseason list, but it’s too early to get a strong read on how that will play out.

The Broncos have been relatively healthy this season, and then a single injury to cornerback Riley Moss nearly derailed the entire defense. So depth seems to be an issue. What’s the expectation with Moss? And given that Moss himself was buried on the depth chart last year, who on the bench is the most likely to make a name for himself if called upon? — Steve F.

The Broncos undoubtedly missed Moss in the loss to the Browns. Veteran Levi Wallace struggled all night to keep pace with Jerry Jeudy — though it’s hard to say Moss would have completely shut down a receiver who went for 235 yards — and was replaced by rookie Kris Abrams-Draine toward the end of the game. Though Abrams-Draine drew a pass-interference penalty on Cleveland’s penultimate play, he showed fearlessness stepping into a big spot in his NFL debut. The Broncos like the fifth-round pick’s progress behind the scenes this season.

We know Moss suffered an MCL injury in Week 12 against the Las Vegas Raiders but was not sent to injured reserve. That suggests the Broncos believe he could return in time for the home game against the Indianapolis Colts in Week 15, but we’ll have to wait until after the bye week for any updates.

What possible rationale is there for a Hall of Fame subcommittee choosing Mike Holmgren over Mike Shanahan as a finalist for the Hall of Fame? One guy changed the game, getting three rings; the other managed one Super Bowl win. Thanks. — John G.

Both coaches had phenomenal careers. Shanahan went to two Super Bowls as a head coach and won them both, and he also won a title as the offensive coordinator of the San Francisco 49ers. Holmgren went to three Super Bowls — two with the Green Bay Packers, one with the Seattle Seahawks — and won one of them. He also won two Super Bowls as an assistant with the 49ers.

One of those losses in the title game for Holmgren, of course, came against Shanahan and the Broncos, who entered Super Bowl XXXII as heavy underdogs. I can appreciate the argument, given how close the resumes are for the coaches, that head-to-head meeting should serve as a tiebreaker. The bigger plus in Shanahan’s column, in my estimation, is how much his impact on the game and the way he designed offense still resonates. Coaches around the league are still running elements of the offense he built in Denver, which is as much a lasting legacy as any of the wins he tallied during his career.

Still, Holmgren is one of only seven coaches to lead two teams to the Super Bowl and is seventh all-time in playoff wins (13) and tied for eighth in playoff seasons (12), figures that rank above Shanahan. John Elway said recently that his former players and coaches know it’s a matter of when, not if, Shanahan gets into the Hall of Fame. They were all hoping it would be this year, but it would be a discredit to Holmgren to say he doesn’t deserve the nod.

Why does it seem like Bo Nix and Troy Franklin can’t get on the same page while Nix and Devaughn Vele seem perfectly in sync? It appears like Vele has been playing with Nix since college instead of Franklin. It’s perplexing. — Mike B.

It’s curious that Nix and Franklin haven’t found a consistent connection yet, particularly with the deep ball. Nix has targeted Franklin on passes of 25 or more air yards 13 times this season, according to TruMedia, and they have connected on only one of those throws (Week 7 in New Orleans). But Payton noted a couple of weeks ago that it’s not as if Nix and Franklin are jumping back into the same offense they were in together at Oregon. It’s a new system, with a different language, so all the new players are starting from scratch when it comes to building chemistry within this scheme. The plus for Vele, for example, is that he arrived as a 26-year-old rookie who had spent a lot of time in more of a pro-style offense at Utah. The things he’s doing in Denver’s offense are a little more familiar to him.

Nix and Franklin will get there. It’s promising that the fourth-round pick has found himself open down the field as frequently as he has. He has speed that can’t be taught. Now it’s about fine-tuning the details to help him be a more consistent downfield threat.

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