At first glance, filling the Denver Broncos need is about running between the tackles, handling short-yardage production and being effective in the red zone. But the Broncos selected Jonah Coleman of the Washington Huskies because they liked what he had to say in another area that’s prioritized by coach Sean Payton.
That area is pass protection, and Coleman’s process with the Broncos took him back to his initial year with Arizona, when he had to compete with a pair of seniors just to get on the field and then-running backs coach Scottie Graham gave him some advice.
“Coach Graham told me the only way I’m going to get on the field,” Coleman recalled yesterday, “is if I pick up blitzes.”
That got Coleman on the field, so he started working on improving. According to Luca Evans of the Denver Post, Coleman ranked third in college snaps spent in pass protection, according to Evans which gave the Broncos plenty of tape to evaluate. That got them interested, and now he gets to protect a new quarterback.
“Now I get to go protect Bo Nix, and I take pride in that,” Coleman said on a conference call Saturday afternoon, shortly after the Broncos drafted him at pick No. 108 in the fourth round. “And I may not have, like, all the exciting plays, all that. But I do the dirty work.
“I do the things that not a lot of people pay attention to.”
The Broncos have a running back room full of smaller backs, and as Evans noted, they have holes in their skill sets. Coleman doesn’t have elite athleticism, according to the writer, but he thinks he can fill in some of those gaps.
“I can ultimately add to that culture that they have, and be that thumper runner that they have,” Coleman told reporters Saturday. “And just being able to come in, and being with guys like RJ Harvey and J.K. Dobbins and stuff like that, you ultimately have a three-headed monster in the run game.”
Offensive line coach Zach Strief has a mandate to improve Denver’s running game, and at 220 pounds, the Broncos will be looking to Coleman to provide the thump and power to do it.
The Broncos spent most of the pre-draft process evaluating Coleman as a third-down back, according to Evans, but he’ll have a chance to step into a bigger role given the hole for a running back with his size. Pass protection will be a big part of the process, but the Broncos are almost certainly hoping he can give them more.