In the Denver Broncos' 26-7 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last Sunday, running back Tyler Badie exploded on the scene. It wasn't the first game that he'd made an impact on offense, but in comparison to how paltry Javonte Williams and Jaleel McLaughlin's rushing averages have been this season, Badie's 7.8 yards-per-carry average stuck out.
Perhaps worried that an outside team might try to pluck him off the practice squad, the Broncos officially promoted Badie to the 53-man roster this week. The move could be a harbinger of a bigger role coming for the former Baltimore Ravens sixth-round pick.
Since Badie joined the Broncos, the team's PR department has provided pronunciation of his name, phonetically spelling it out as 'Bay-dee.' However, during his breakout performance last week in Tampa, the television broadcast crew pronounced his name 'Buh-day.'
Badie settle the pronunciation issue by telling DNVR that the TV broadcast had it right.
“Buh-DAY,” he said, via DNVR's Zac Stevens. “Let’s get it out of the way.”
The Broncos PR department is top-shelf, and it goes to great length to ensure that player names are pronounced correctly by announcers, commentators, and pundits, by phonetically spelling it out in the annual Media Guide. So why the discrepancy with regard to 'Bay-dee' and 'Buh-day?'
“I actually changed it myself,” Badie said via Stevens. “There’s some other things going on, some family things that I’ll talk about later on. But right now, I’m just trying to focus on football now.”
And there you have it. Badie himself went to the Broncos after the Media Guide had been released and told him of the pronunciation change, which is how last week's TV broadcast had it right.
With that out of the way, Badie wants to focus on ball, and so do Broncos fans. Now that he's been promoted to the 53-man roster, could Broncos Country expect to see Badie taking a bigger share of the rushing load? Perhaps Broncos offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi's Thursday remarks could hint at an answer.
“I think Tyler is an interesting story because he was a guy we were really excited about last year and he got hurt in training camp," Lombardi said. "When he got healthy, things were kind of in motion and [we] thought he had a really good camp. We were lucky to keep him after training camp, and I think we knew that there was going to be a day this season where he was going to be called up and get his opportunities."
With how painful it's been to watch Williams run into his blockers' backs, and McLaughlin get quickly swallowed up by tacklers, Badie's explosive first step, and vision for finding the cut-back lane has been refreshing. It's jumped off the screen, so to speak, when studying the film — beyond simply a change-of-pace type of impact.
"I don’t think any of us were surprised at what he did," Lombardi said of Badie. "He’s a guy that we certainly held in high regard. I was excited when his opportunity came up. I kind of expected him to show out like he did.”
Teams are pretty stubborn when it comes to the players hand-picked to be No. 1 on the depth chart, so while the Broncos would be foolish not to find ways to include Badie more often, it'll be a surprise if it comes at the expense of Williams' touch share. There are always exceptions to the rule, but as Lombardi said in reference to last year with Badie's health, things are "in motion" now, and that includes Williams as RB1 in the last year of his contract.
Broncos Country wants to see Williams — a 2021 second-round pick whom the team traded up to draft — succeed and even garner a second contract, but he has clearly held the offense back, which has set Bo Nix and company up for many a second- and third-and-long situations.
“I don’t know if you need to do—I don’t know if there’s a specific step you have to take," Lombardi said in regards to Williams and McLaughlin's low rushing averages. "I mean, obviously, Tyler got in there and had the big run, and he’s a guy that we really like. The run game is one of those things where not every run is going to be a 20-yard gain, and you stick with it, thinking you know the players that you have. Just because the stats tell you that they’re not gaining a bunch of yards doesn’t mean that they’ve all of a sudden turned to crap. So you just keep handing them the ball and know that we’ll keep getting better, the plan will keep getting better and we’ll keep blocking better. Their big runs are coming."
As you can see, it doesn't sound like the plan is to eat into Williams' touch share, whether it makes sense or not. If anything, expect McLaughlin's bite at the apple to diminish if the Broncos strive to give Badie an expanded role.
"It’s just like anything; it’s tempting when you’ve run the ball a few times early and you’re not gaining yards and just say, ‘To heck with this, we’re just going to start throwing,'" Lombardi explained. "The run game is one of those things that if you stick with it, you’re going to start busting some runs. It’s just a patience thing and just getting better when we do run it.”
Head coach and play-caller Sean Payton has stayed committed to the run, even when it hasn't worked well for the Broncos. That patience paid dividends last week when Badie was inserted into the lineup in the second half, busting off a 43-yard run and helping the Broncos consume the clock and put the Bucs to bed.
However, in the NFL, the hot hand typically takes precedence — especially in a running-back-by-committee offense like Payton's. The Broncos would be remiss to ignore Badie's momentum just for the sake of keeping the original plan "in motion."
