The Denver Broncos finally saw some signs of life from their running backs in a 10-9 win over the New York Jets in Week 4. It was a welcome surge in production as rookie quarterback Bo Nix went 12-of-25 passing for 60 yards in one of the worst passing games for a winning quarterback in NFL history.
Even with that, it’s hardly enough for the Broncos to stay put in the backfield and especially not after one of their running backs, Tyler Badie, suffered a scary back injury against the Jets and had to be secured to a backboard before leaving the field.
On October 1, the Broncos moved quickly to bring another running back into the fold when they signed veteran Salvon Ahmed to the practice squad after he spent the last 4 seasons with the Miami Dolphins. The team announced the move on their official website.
From DenverBroncos.com: “Ahmed is a 5-foot-11, 197-pound player who has rushed for 593 yards and five touchdowns in his career. During four seasons with the Miami Dolphins from 2020-23, Ahmed appeared in 38 games and averaged 3.6 yards per attempt. He also caught 40 passes for 274 yards and a touchdown. His most productive season came in 2020, when he rushed for 319 yards and three touchdowns while averaging 4.3 yards per carry.”
Ahmed Rushed For Over 1,000 Yards in Pac-12
Ahmed played 3 seasons at the University of Washington and was a 2-time All-Pac-12 selection. He had his best season as a junior in 2019 with 1,020 rushing yards and 11 touchdowns.
Ahmed left college with 1 year of eligibility remaining to enter the 2020 NFL draft but wasn’t selected. He signed with the San Francisco 49ers but was released then eventually caught on with the Dolphins on their active roster.
NFL draft analyst Lance Zierlein had Ahmed projected as a sixth round pick in his pre-draft analysis and was critical of Ahmed’s lack of vision as a runner.
“Ahmed lacks feel for blocking scheme and run-lane development, but even struggled to see it and hit the gas when clear points of entry were available,” Zierlein wrote. “He can hit a daily goal with the amount of steps he uses on each carry, but it prevents him from being able to plant and go with much-needed efficiency. He’s athletic with open-field speed, but leaves too many chunk plays out on the field and faces an uphill battle to make a team.”
Ahmed made the Dolphins and stuck on the roster for 4 seasons before he was put on the non-football injury list in June and waived in August.
Broncos Have Uphill Battle at Running Back
Nix was leading the Broncos in rushing through the first 3 weeks of the regular season before Javonte Williams came through with 77 rushing yards on 16 carries — 4.8 yards per carry — and took over the team lead.
Williams led the Broncos with 774 rushing yards and 3 touchdowns in 2023 but has only 126 yards through 4 games in 2024 and is averaging just 3.2 yards per carry, which is down from his average of 3.6 in 2023.
The Broncos’ struggles in the running game in recent years have coincided with their struggles as a team. Denver hasn’t made the playoffs since the 2015 season, hasn’t had a winning record since 2016 and hasn’t had an individual player go over 1,000 rushing yards in a single season since Phillip Lindsay in 2019.
