Just 5 games into the 2024 regular season, the Denver Broncos show no signs of ending a streak without a player passing the 1,000-yard mark in rushing or receiving that dates back to 2019.
Headed into a Week 6 home game against the Los Angeles Chargers, running back Javonte Williams leads the Broncos with 190 rushing yards and zero touchdown, for an average of 38.0 yards. Wide receiver Courtland Sutton, the last player to hit the 1,000-yard mark in receiving, leads the team with 224 receiving yards and 1 touchdown, for an average of 44.8 yards.
The numbers just don’t compute.
Help might still be a long way off, but Bleacher Report’s Alex Ballentine projects the Broncos to take electric Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty in the 2025 NFL draft.
According to FanDuel, Jeanty is also the favorite to win the Heisman Trophy headed into a game at Hawaii on October 12. The 5-foot-9, 215-pound junior and Frisco, Texas, native is also the reigning Mountain West Conference Offensive Player of the Year.
Jeanty might be worth the wait. He became just the eighth player in the FBS since 1996 to pass 1,000 rushing yards in the first 5 games of the season after rushing for 186 yards and 3 touchdowns on just 13 carries in a 62-30 win over Utah State on October 5.
“If Bo Nix is going to work out as the franchise quarterback, it’s going to take a talented supporting cast to make it work,” Ballentine wrote. “That means finding a back who can be Sean Payton’s Alvin Kamara in Denver. Javonte Williams and Jaleel McLaughlin have struggled to get loose this season. Meanwhile, Ashton Jeanty is putting together a Heisman campaign … he’s putting up video-game numbers, but he’s also showcased the kind of versatility, contact balance and vision to be a Day 1 pick.”
Ashton Jeanty is the Heisman front runner.
The beautiful thing about his game is that it’s not just him running through huge gaps in the defense created by the blocking scheme. He is breaking tackles in the back field and 20 yards down the field to make routine runs SPECTACULAR. pic.twitter.com/vPgfHR8iMI— Robert Griffin III (@RGIII) October 6, 2024
Jeanty accounted for 1,814 yards of total offense and 19 touchdowns as a sophomore in 2023 — 1,262 rushing and 552 receiving. Still, in games against elite competition Jeanty seemed to fall off. In losses to College Football Playoff runner-up Washington and UCLA he failed to crack 100 rushing yards and scored just 1 touchdown.
That hasn’t been a problem so far in 2024. Jeanty thrust himself into the Heisman race when he almost single-handedly beat No. 3 Oregon at Autzen Stadium on September 7 with 25 carries for 192 yards and 3 touchdowns in a 37-34 loss.
Jeanty followed that up with another headline-stealing performance with 26 carries for 259 yards and 4 touchdowns in a 45-24 win over Washington State on September 28.
“There are no egos in our offense or on our team,” Boise State head coach Spencer Danielson told The Associated Press after the win over Utah State. “It’s, ‘What does the team need?’ That’s what we’ve got, especially when it’s led by a guy like Ashton Jeanty. He was waiting for me on Tuesday before practice to find out if he could get on special teams.”
The Broncos have rarely taken running backs in the first round.
The last time was 2009, when they selected Georgia running back Knowshon Moreno with the No. 12 overall pick. Before Moreno, you have to go back to 1985, when the Broncos selected Oklahoma running back Steve Sewell with the No. 26 overall pick.
