{"id":859164,"date":"2026-04-07T15:18:22","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T15:18:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/859164\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T15:18:22","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T15:18:22","slug":"broncos-draft-history-shows-no-clear-path-to-a-featured-rb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/859164\/","title":{"rendered":"Broncos\u2019 Draft History Shows No Clear Path to a Featured RB"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>With the Denver Broncos set for the 2026 NFL draft in just a few weeks, we&#8217;re breaking down what they&#8217;ve done in the past when it comes to the biggest positions they need to address.<\/p>\n<p>One of those positions is running back. The Broncos just re-signed J.K. Dobbins to a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/nfl\/broncos\/onsi\/news\/instant-grade-broncos-re-signing-veteran-jk-dobbins\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">two-year deal<\/a>. When Dobbins was healthy, he and 2025 second-round pick RJ Harvey formed a good combination.<\/p>\n<p>However, when Dobbins missed the second half of the season because of injuries, Harvey had to step into the lead role, and while he had his moments, he wasn&#8217;t as effective. Harvey could improve in 2026, but it still raises the question of what would happen if Dobbins were to miss time.<\/p>\n<p>Jaleel McLaughlin and Tyler Badie will return but they have their limitations, meaning the Broncos should draft a running back for competition. But how have the Broncos done when it comes to past drafts?<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s a list of every running back the Broncos have drafted since 2011, the first year of the rookie pay scale.<\/p>\n<p>Ronnie Hillman, 2012, third round<br \/>\nMontee Ball, 2013, second round<br \/>\nDevontae Booker, 2016, fourth round<br \/>\nDe&#8217;Angelo Henderson, 2017, sixth round<br \/>\nRoyce Freeman, 2018, third round<br \/>\nDavid Williams, 2018, seventh round<br \/>\nJavonte Williams, 2021, second round<br \/>\nAudric Estime, 2024, fifth round<br \/>\nRJ Harvey, 2025, second round<\/p>\n<p>What it Means<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With the Denver Broncos set for the 2026 NFL draft in just a few weeks, we&#8217;re breaking down&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":859165,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2062],"tags":[232,231,258,2426,7,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-859164","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-denver-broncos","8":"tag-broncos","9":"tag-denver","10":"tag-denver-broncos","11":"tag-denverbroncos","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116364096867798531","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859164","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=859164"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859164\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/859165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=859164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=859164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=859164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}