Mile High Report
Has rookie running back Audric Estime surpassed Javonte Williams? A review of him and the offensive line.
If we’re looking at snap counts alone, it seems like there is a new sheriff in the Denver backfield and it’s the rookie Audric Estime.
The Denver Broncos have seemingly been looking for a new starting running back this year. Javonte Williams has been good, and great at times, but it seems like Denver doesn’t trust him to consistently produce at the levels they’re looking for. Estime has shown flashes, and even seemed like he’d be taking the reigns at the beginning of the year but then he had to be put on the IR. And if it wasn’t for his early fumbling issues, everyone would be a lot more confident in him already.
The last couple of weeks Sean Payton hinted at Estime getting more reps, and that promise came to fruition on Sunday when he took the predominant amount of snaps against the Kansas City Chiefs.
How did Estime do on Sunday and did he earn the starting job? Let’s take a look at see how Estime and the offensive line performed against the Chiefs.
Estime ran the ball on 14 of the 20 designed runs by everyone besides Bo Nix. He was on the field for 26 offensive snaps (45%) compared to Williams’ 17 snaps (29%), and Jaleel McLaughlin’s 7 snaps (12%).
With Estime, the Broncos aligned with a strength to the right the majority of the time (9 of 14 rushes) and ran the ball to the strength six times, and to the weak eight times. They had mixed success running to the strong or weak side.
Most of the rushes came out of the singleback formation (7), and they also ran out of Gun (3), Strong (2), Weak (1), and Strong Gun (1). The most successful plays came out of Singleback or one of the variations of Strong.
The play they ran most with Estime was Inside Zone, coming in at five times. They also ran Dive three times (two times leading up to the field goal attempt), HB Lead twice, Inside Toss once, Long Trap once, Draw once, Duo Left once, and Y Wham once. Dive and HB Lead were their most successful plays.
Estime gained 1-2 yards on six of his carries, 3-6 yards on six carries, and 7+ yards twice. He gained 53 yards total and averaged 3.8 yards per carry.
Estime had himself a nice day on the ground, considering it was his first time being the main man in the backfield. He ran well behind his blockers and showed good vision throughout the game.
One thing you notice his how strong he is driving through contact and an ability to get an extra yard.
And while the offensive line gave him some good running lanes, at the end of the game, when the Chiefs knew Denver was running, Estime was unable to break a tackle...
