Booker needs to take back seat to Freeman
Royce Freeman, we see you. It’s obvious to anyone with eyes Freeman has established himself as the Broncos’ best running back.
The question now: Does Denver give Freeman a chance to rush for 1,000 yards as a rookie, or stubbornly insist on taking carries away from him by attempting to justify a role for Devontae Booker?
A last-place team trying to rebound quickly from a 5-11 record doesn’t have time to mess around. While the addition of quarterback Case Keenum put a badly needed adult in charge of the offense, it’s the kids that can lead Denver back to the playoffs, if the Broncos wants to make their worst-to-first dream a reality.
After muddling along for years, trying to force round pegs (Paxton Lynch, Ty Sambrailo) into square holes on his draft board, it appears Broncos general manager John Elway scored big with this rookie class. Bradley Chubb, Courtland Sutton, Freeman, Josey Jewell, Daesean
Hamilton and Phillip Lindsay don’t need to be coddled.
If Denver wants to win 10 games, the kids need to be on the field early and often, so they can grow up as quickly as possible, allowing the errors of youth in September a chance to pay dividends with a playoff push in December.
Let’s get this party started with Freeman. In three preseason games, the rookie from Oregon has averaged 5.6 yards on 15 carries and scored three touchdowns. While coaches have praised Booker, listing him as the No. 1 running back on the depth chart, he has continued an aggravating habit of plunging headlong and headstrong into traffic.
The result? Booker goes down in the same heap at the line of scrimmage that has frequently swallowed him during two previous NFL seasons.
While Lynch has been roundly booed by Broncos Country for being a first-round bust, Booker has been only slightly more impressive than his far more scrutinized classmate from the 2016 draft.
It’s time for Denver to cut ties with Lynch. I’m not advocating such anywhere near as drastic move for Booker. But does it really make sense for the team to give Booker a significant turns in the backfield rotation at the expense of Freeman, Lindsay, Andy Janovich or perhaps even De’angelo Henderson?
After Denver defeated Washington, Broncos coach Vance Joseph said: “I’m not overly concerned about who’s the lead back. It takes three or four guys.”
What we learn next is how much the Broncos truly trust Freeman to be a big-time impactful rookie from Week 1 of the regular season.
The sample size for Keenum during the preseason has been too small to render a final verdict.
But perhaps it’s worth noting Keenum’s time on the field against Minnesota, Chicago and Washington has been roughly equivalent to one full NFL game for a quarterback.
His stats: 21 completions in 35 attempts for 231 yards and a 79.6 quarterback rating. Ho. Hum. That’s an improvement over Trevor Siemian, but not as much as analysts projecting Keenum will give the Broncos a major upgrade at quarterback.
“I like what we’ve done as far as establishing an identity,” Keenum said. “It’s funny, though. As you play throughout the year, your identity kind of changes, it evolves and morphs.”
What will be fascinating to watch is if offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave and the Broncos are willing to fast forward the offensive evolution by ramping up their reliance on rookies. Count on Keenum to be a steady hand and reassuring voice for young players such as Freeman, Sutton and Lindsay. But Keenum isn’t Tom Brady. The new QB in Denver will be only as good as the weapons provided by Musgrave.
And that brings us back to Freeman. In order to give him a realistic shot at rushing for 1,000 yards as a rookie, Freeman needs 15 rushing attempts per game, week-in and week-out. It’s a workload unlikely to happen unless Booker is rapidly phased from prominence in the rotation at running back.
Is Freeman the real deal? There’s only one way to find out: Hand Freeman the rock. Early and often.
Mark Kiszla: mkiszla@denverpost.com or @markkiszla