{"id":41332,"date":"2025-05-11T09:39:28","date_gmt":"2025-05-11T09:39:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/41332\/"},"modified":"2025-05-11T09:39:28","modified_gmt":"2025-05-11T09:39:28","slug":"i-want-to-be-better-than-sproles-kamara-in-paytons-offense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/41332\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;I want to be better&#8217; than Sproles, Kamara in Payton&#8217;s offense"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>ENGLEWOOD, Colo. \u2014 RJ Harvey knew the Denver Broncos had a need at running back heading into the NFL Draft, so, they were on his mind.<\/p>\n<p>But there was another reason why the former high-school quarterback was taken with the idea of donning the orange and blue:<\/p>\n<p>Bo Nix.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI love how he plays,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/masedenver.bsky.social\/post\/3lotvfn74pc2z\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Harvey said<\/a>, \u201cand I feel like it\u2019s a great team, had a great year last year and young team, great defense, and, I\u2019m just ready to get to work with all the vets and everybody else coming.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But what was it specifically that RJ Harvey saw in Nix?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s a competitor,\u201d Harvey explained.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI feel like he\u2019s just like me. I got that quarterback mindset as well, and, I want to win. I want to dominate every play, and I feel like he\u2019s just like that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Nix and RJ Harvey shared a common coach: Gus Malzahn, the head coach at Auburn for Nix\u2019s first two seasons there and the coach at Central Florida from 2021 onward, arriving after Harvey\u2019s first season there following his transfer from Virginia.<\/p>\n<p>Harvey\u2019s background as a quarterback should help him adapt to Sean Payton\u2019s offense.<\/p>\n<p>RJ HARVEY IS AIMING HIGH<\/p>\n<p>Harvey mentioned that he spent part of Friday \u2014 the first day of <a href=\"https:\/\/denversports.com\/nfl\/denver-broncos\/broncos-rookie-camp-25\/2120807\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Broncos rookie minicamp<\/a> \u2014 watching film of former Saints running backs Alvin Kamara and Darren Sproles with Payton in the head coach\u2019s office.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWatching those choice routes and everything,\u201d Harvey said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c\u2026 Definitely want to be like those guys, you know, like Darren Sproles. He went crazy with the Saints. Kamara, too. So, I want to be better than those guys.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo, Imma work to every day, get better and, just prove myself to all the vets and the coaches and, I want to make an immediate impact in this league.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The work began this weekend. In the low-contact, no-pad practices, RJ Harvey\u2019s burst, speed and pass-catching ability were apparent.<\/p>\n<p>His jump cuts were on display, as were his quick feet; he exploded up the middle and appeared to be the most dynamic offensive player on the field for much of the day. But there\u2019s only so much one can get from these sorts of practices; the true test will come over the summer.<\/p>\n<p>And a major examination will come in training camp, when he works on pass protection in full pads. The groundwork will be laid during OTAs and minicamp, of course; that\u2019s when he can work on technique and learning about protections and identifying blitzes.<\/p>\n<p>But part of the success equation will involve RJ Harvey being put into position to succeed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI know the question: Is he a three-down back?\u201d Broncos coach Sean Payton said. \u201cWell, he\u2019s going to play on third down \u2026 but he could play on third down where the tight end is in protection, so, there\u2019s a lot we can do relative to really [suiting] his strengths.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That arose with Darren Sproles at times, Payton said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt would happen occasionally with Darren where I\u2019d say to him, \u2018Hey, every once in a while you might get matched up on NaVorro Bowman or (Patrick) Willis,&#8217;\u201d Payton explained, \u201cand I\u2019m not going to make a habit of doing that but, but if you watch his stature \u2014 and I mean he\u2019s put together pretty well, so, there\u2019s a difference between a small runner and a short runner.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re not interested in the small runners, but we\u2019re okay with the short runners.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And while RJ Harvey is short at 5-foot-8, he\u2019s not small, as his build attested. His shorts barely contained his quadriceps.<\/p>\n<p>Further, there\u2019s nothing small about his boldness in wanting to be better than Sproles and Kamara.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-perfmatters-preload=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/1746956366_562_hqdefault.jpg\" alt=\"YouTube video\" width=\"480\" height=\"360\" data-pin-nopin=\"true\" nopin=\"nopin\"\/><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/denversports.com\/daily\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/DenverSportsEmail-300x250-1.jpg\" style=\"margin: 0 auto;\" class=\"mobile-signup\"\/>\t&#13;<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/DenverSportsEmail-830x100-1.jpg\" style=\"margin: 0 auto;\" class=\"desktop-signup\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ENGLEWOOD, Colo. \u2014 RJ Harvey knew the Denver Broncos had a need at running back heading into the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41333,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2062],"tags":[232,3658,231,258,2426,7,6,3657],"class_list":{"0":"post-41332","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-denver-broncos","8":"tag-broncos","9":"tag-colorado-denvers-sports-station-104-3-the-fan","10":"tag-denver","11":"tag-denver-broncos","12":"tag-denverbroncos","13":"tag-football","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-sports-radio-104-3-the-fan-denver"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114488538993840134","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41332"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41332\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}