The status of Denver Broncos running back Javonte Williams was something that people were keeping a close eye on coming into training camp. The 2021 second-round pick was looking to have a breakout campaign in 2022 before injury struck.
Williams ended up tearing the ACL and LCL in his right knee in Week 4 last season against the Las Vegas Raiders. Many people thought that he would begin training camp on the team’s active/physically unable to perform list, but that was not the case.
Just about 10 months removed from his surgery, Williams was back on the field for the first day of practice during training camp. It was something that the team was expecting all along as head coach Sean Payton revealed that the organization was happy with the progress he made in the spring.
“We’re pleased obviously with his progress,” Broncos coach Sean Payton said Wednesday in a video from Mike Klis of 9News. “We felt really good about it in the spring. He put the work in.” (H/T ProFootballTalk)
That is certainly excellent news for the Broncos, who surprised many people by not bringing in more running backs this offseason. Williams’ rapidly improving knee was likely why, as they knew he would be ready to go despite sometimes being coy about it.
While exciting that Williams is ready to go, the team isn’t going to take any chances by pushing him too hard. His workload is still going to be managed in the coming weeks to ensure everything stays on track.
“Any player who had a significant injury a year ago, [vice president of health and performance] Beau [Lowery] and I will sit down and we’ll have a group one, and that would be someone like him,” Payton said. “They’ll have days on and limited days, day off. So there’s a process. He would fall into that first group of a planned schedule as he’s recovering from a major surgery.”
In his four appearances last season, Williams carried the ball 47 times for 204 yards, adding 16 receptions for 76 yards. Williams was a victim of the Broncos’ poor offense just like most of his teammates.
However, there was optimism that things would quickly turn around after the strong rookie season he had. In 2021, he carried the ball 203 times for 904 yards and four touchdowns, adding 43 receptions for 316 yards and three more scores.
