Which Denver RB should fantasy managers prioritize?

Andy Behrens takes a close look at the Broncos backfield to answer fantasy managers' running back questions.

Video Transcript

[CHEERING]

ANDY BEHRENS: The Denver Broncos are kind of a sleeping fantasy giant. We like all these skilled players. Look at the receiving corps. It's Courtland Sutton. It's Jerry Jeudy. It's Patrick. It's Hamler. It's Noah Fant. This team is loaded.

It's the backfield that's really the open question for fantasy managers, and I am sorry to report that Melvin Gordon is still a totally competent player. He's really good-- averaged more than 4 and 1/2 yards per carry last season. He dominated the targets out of that backfield, dominated the red zone touches.

He's good. He's going to have a role. He's probably going to have the lead role there. But Javonte Williams is exciting.

For dynasty purposes, you want to make Javonte Williams-- boy, he shouldn't go any lower than the fourth, maybe fifth pick in rookie dynasty drafts. That's it. Long term, we love the projection here. He's somebody who is going to, no doubt, take over that backfield in 2022.

But in 2021, it's going to be a little bit of a problem. Your best hope is that he ends up with a Cam Akers sort of season where he takes over in December. You have to plan on him having basically an 8 to 12 touch per game role, kind of that Philip Lindsay roll from 2020.

And he can be a flex with that. He's really good. You look at the stats at North Carolina last year-- 7.3 yards per carry, 22 touchdowns, led the world in missed tackles. A little bit of that had to do with the ACC and a lot of it had to do with Williams.

He's great. You're going to like him long term. This season, however, he probably still needs to be drafted behind Melvin Gordon.