The Broncos find quality tailbacks in the strangest places.
Terrell Davis, for instance. He’ll be inducted into the team’s Ring of Fame on Sunday. He won an NFL MVP award, a Super Bowl MVP award and ran for 2,008 yards in a single season.
Not bad for a sixth-round afterthought.
Davis isn’t alone on the list of Broncos tailbacks to come out of nowhere and become stars in Mike Shanahan’s system. Mike Anderson, a two-time 1,000-yard runner for the Broncos, was a sixth-rounder five years after Davis. Olandis Gary, who ran for 1,000-plus as a rookie in 1999, was a No. 4 pick.
Then there’s Reuben Droughns, a former fullback who had washed out in Detroit, of all places. He comes to Denver and runs for 1,240 yards in 2004. And, of course, there’s Mike Bell, who was ordained the starting tailback during the 2006 preseason after going undrafted.
Bell turned out to be a solid contributor last season, running for 677 yards while splitting time at tailback with Tatum Bell. Bell is the backup fullback these days. His spot as the No. 2 tailback has been taken by, you guessed it, another undrafted rookie free agent.
Selvin Young is seeing more and more time on third down, what with Shanahan trying to keep the pressure off Travis Henry. And Young is responding. He’s a dangerous pass-catching threat, and he peeled off a 40-yard run in Sunday’s overtime victory over the Raiders.
And to think, he went overlooked during the draft. Well, sort of. Shanahan likes to draft a tailback every year and had targeted Young as a later-rounder. Trouble was, he couldn’t get to him because of trades that left the Broncos’ stock of picks low.
So how were the Broncos able to sign him as a free agent?
“It was because we didn’t have a fifth-, sixth-, or seventh-(rounder),” Shanahan said. “I’m glad we didn’t.”
Follow Jim Armstrong’s daily Broncos commentaries on The Jimmy Page at 7 a.m. and noon. And read his Third & Short column on Sundays and the day after Broncos games.
He can be reached at 303-954-1269 or jmarmstrong@denverpost.com.
