Mile High Monday: The Broncos got the best back of the bunch

May 10, 2021, 6:36 AM

Denver Sports Analyst

The Denver Broncos, like the rest of the NFL, are almost ready to start rookie minicamps in the coming week. Offseason programs kick off this week as teams get ready for the 2021 season. The draft is done, the rosters have been adjusted, and now it’s time to get to work.

I like when the work is scheduled and on the horizon. The Broncos look good “on paper,” but that doesn’t matter if they don’t put in the right work and then make that potential come to fruition on the football field in the fall. That process starts now.

I also like contemplating life and sports when driving around with the top down on my old Jeep TJ! The following is a result of those trips during the week.

Buckle up, let’s take a ride through my thoughts.

***

Best and Brightest

There were some great running backs who entered the NFL this year via the 2021 NFL Draft. I believe the Broncos got the best back in the class when they moved up in the second round to select Javonte Williams out of North Carolina. He wasn’t the first back selected in the draft, but I feel like he could have the largest impact from this group.

The first round saw two running backs, Najee Harris (Steelers) and Travis Etienne (Jaguars), go off the board. Both of those players have tremendous skill and upside. Pro Football Focus recently tweeted about which one of these backs (including 49ers third-round pick Trey Sermon) would have the biggest 2021 season.

Which rookie RB will have the biggest 2021? 👀 pic.twitter.com/GXboeyoBBU

— PFF (@PFF) May 7, 2021

Williams could turn out to be the most productive in 2021 of this top-tier group if he wins the job from day one. Harris is likely to be the Steelers starter and lead back all season long. Reports indicate that Etienne could win the starting job of James Robinson (a 1,000-yard rusher in 2020) and that is a battle to watch in camp. Sermon is a talented runner and could be special in a Shanahan system.

Obviously, Williams has his work cut out for him. Broncos fans should be excited about the Tar Heels runner this year and in years to come. Melvin Gordon is still on the roster and he’s good enough to have a chunk of a RBBC in Denver – especially with his inflated price tag.

The presence of Gordon may keep Williams from reaching his full potential. I have a feeling that once Gordon is gone, Williams will develop into one of the best running backs in the league.

***

Schedule Release Party

The NFL knows how to take something simple in the offseason and make a big deal about it. Every year, the NFL draft is one of the highest-rated sports programs on the calendar and that’s just players getting their names called. No other draft in any professional sport has such a following for the college athlete selection process. It’s incredible to me that the NFL draft regularly gets higher ratings than the World Series, Stanley Cup Finals and NBA Finals.

While it’s not the ratings juggernaut that the draft is, the NFL’s schedule release has turned into an event on the sports calendar. We are going to find out this Wednesday which teams play on what days and how many primetime games teams are going to get. The Broncos opponents for the season are already known, both home and away, but we don’t yet have any idea of who the team opens up with or how the “flow” of the schedule unfolds.

Just how big are the league's plans for the release of the NFL schedule next Wednesday night at 8p ET? I'm on a virtual meeting with 116 people. Personnel from football ops, broadcasting, marketing, Huddle Cafe, NFL Media, pr, international

— Brian McCarthy (@NFLprguy) May 7, 2021

As a football fan, I don’t mind the NFL dominating the sports headlines for most of the season. However, it is a bit funny (to me) that they’re able to take something as boring as a schedule release and turn it into a made-for-TV event.

***

Championship Chase

It’s difficult to win a championship in all sports, but I think it’s the most difficult in the NFL. Sports are all about debate, and thanks to “PTI” and “First Take,” we now have every show trying to make bold statements to get headlines.

On a recent episode of “Get Up,” ESPN analyst Kendrick Perkins said that the NBA was the most difficult championship to win in sports. In fact, it is seen as more difficult in Perkins eyes than winning a ring in the NFL. Perkins acknowledged that he was going to “ruffle some feathers,” but as he says, “that’s what I’m here for.”

How about being there for quality opinions and not just verbal clickbait? Perkins does a fine job, but this opinion just makes no sense. The NFL is deemed “any given Sunday” for a reason – a bad day means you go home in the playoffs.

In basketball, you can have a bad day. The better teams are usually gonna win a seven-game series even if they start 0-2.

In football you can’t be off for a moment. Better team can and will lose a lot more often. “Any given Sunday”

Football is harder bc the margin for error is less https://t.co/8p6jAizLnP

— Calais Campbell (@CalaisCampbell) May 7, 2021

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but to suggest it’s easier to win it all in the NFL than it is in the NBA is hogwash. Yes, we see Game 7 drama unfold in other sports when it’s win or go home – but that’s the norm in the NFL with a one-loss elimination format.

***

Everybody HODL!

I mess around a little bit with cryptocurrency. Back in early January, I bought Dogecoin because everyone was buzzing about the coin with the dog on it. I won’t get into specifics, but Dogecoin was created as a joke, in a way to poke fun at Bitcoin and the whole cryptocurrency craze. I thought it would be fun to join in and bought some of the “meme” coin.

Elon Musk is like the unofficial father of Dogecoin. When he’s not tweeting about it, he’s talking about it and it’s got the crypto market going nuts. There are many people with a modest income who bought in on Dogecoin and have seen their holdings grow by leaps and bounds. It’s great to see when the “common” person can turn a fun investment into something that can positively impact their day-to-day lives. It seems like that’s what Dogecoin has done for a lot of people, but there are plenty others who are holding instead of selling (watch the hashtag #HODL on social media) to see where this thing goes.

Over the weekend, Dogecoin hit a whopping .73 cents. That doesn’t sound like much, but many of us got into it when it was less than a penny and there have been substantial gains with that coin that other stocks/crypto just can’t touch.