The Denver Broncos will attack teams on the ground much differently this coming season than they did in 2024.
Last season, the team used a three-headed backfield in Javonte Williams, Jaleel McLaughlin and Audric Estime. While only Williams is no longer on the roster, the team drafted RJ Harvey in the second round before signing veteran J.K. Dobbins in free agency.
It is expected that Harvey and Dobbins will lead the backfield this coming season, leaving open the very real possibility that either Estime or McLaughlin will be left off the team. Andrew Mason, who covers the Broncos for Denver Sports 104.3 FM, expects Estime to be in the most danger of having that become a reality and it could be a recurring fumbling problem that pushes him out the door.
“If Estimé had flourished last year, either Dobbins or Harvey — or both — almost certainly wouldn’t be on the roster.
If Audric Estime is on the outside looking in, could the #Broncos look to trade him before the season begins? @JoshuaDover | @CecilLammey pic.twitter.com/ue3tvi6Mzh
— Denver Sports 104.3 (@DenSports1043) June 17, 2025
The fifth-round pick in the 2024 NFL Draft had his chances, starting with Week 1. But — figuratively and literally — he fumbled them, starting with when he put the ball on the ground in Week 1. Jaleel McLaughlin fumbled that day, too. But there’s a difference; that was — and remains — the only fumble for McLaughlin in 247 regular-season or postseason touches.
Estimé, meanwhile, returned to the lineup five weeks later against the Los Angeles Chargers, then lost a fumble four days after that in New Orleans. And if the preseason is included, Estimé finished his rookie year with three fumbles in 105 touches — an average of one every 35 touches.
Unfortunately, that’s how trust ends up fraying to the point where a search goes elsewhere. It didn’t help that the Broncos had the NFL’s No. 1 offensive line in run-block win rate and that didn’t translate to production, a discrepancy Payton noted during offseason work”, wrote Mason.
It’s becoming a more popular opinion that the Broncos will move on from either Estime or McLaughlin, meaning they could be in direct competition with one another. The Broncos could explore trading one of them or they could go the route of keeping four running backs on the 53-man roster. That doesn’t even touch on the abilities of Tyler Badie and Blake Watson, who could each make the team as well ahead of Estime or McLaughlin — or both.
Estime was a promising choice out of Notre Dame when the Broncos took him in the fifth round of last year’s draft. It would be both surprising and a shame to see the team move on so quickly, but sometimes the business side of the NFL dictates tough decisions like that to be made.
Estime will have to prove he still belongs this summer. That will start with an emphasis on not turning the ball over.
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