Will Denver's Running Back Room Get a Reality Check? The Jeremiah Love Contract and What It Means for the Broncos' Rushing Identity Going Forward

Let me tell you something about football, and I mean this from the bottom of my heart. When you watch a team over the years, really pay attention to what they do in the draft and free agency, you start to see the philosophy of the organization. You see what they value. You see what they believe wins football games. And right now, watching what's happening around the league with running backs getting paid serious money, particularly with Jeremiah Love cashing in big time in the 2026 draft class, it's got me thinking hard about where the Denver Broncos are at with their own rushing attack and what direction they're heading.

See, here's the thing that folks sometimes miss when they're looking at the draft from the outside. It's not just about what your team does. It's about what everyone else does too. It's about the market. It's about what the league is saying about the position, about value, about what's worth investing in. And when you've got a running back like Jeremiah Love getting the kind of money and draft capital he got in that 2026 draft, that's a message. That's the league saying something loud and clear about the running back position right now.

The Denver Broncos have had quite the journey when it comes to running backs. I don't need to remind you about the glorious days of Terrell Davis, that man who was absolutely magical in the Super Bowl XXXII and XXXIII years. Davis was a complete back. He could carry the football, he could catch it, he understood his role in the offense, and he did it with this grit that you just don't see every day. But that was a different era of football. That was when you could build an entire offense around your running back, and nobody thought twice about it.

Now, let's talk about what Denver's got right now. The Broncos have had some decent backs in recent years, but there's been this real inconsistency, this sense that the position hasn't been prioritized the way it used to be. You look at the last few seasons, and it feels like Denver's been searching for that one back who can just take a workload and produce consistently. That's tough to find, and I understand that. But when you see what's happening around the league, when you see teams willing to spend high draft picks on premium running back talent, you've got to wonder what Denver's thinking about their own approach.

Here's where it gets interesting for Broncos fans though. The fact that Jeremiah Love got the money and the draft position he did tells us something about the market value for elite running back play right now. Teams are still willing to invest in the position if they believe they're getting a truly special talent. This isn't necessarily saying running backs are overvalued. What it's saying is that transcendent running back talent is still worth serious investment in the eyes of NFL front offices. That matters for Denver because it tells us what the league thinks about the position's importance to a championship team.

Now, let's talk about the Rams and that situation for a second because it connects back to what Denver needs to be thinking about. When a team like the Rams makes decisions that potentially tick off their head coach, that's organizational dysfunction plain and simple. That's a red flag bigger than a Texas thunderstorm. You can't have your head coach and your front office pulling in different directions about how you want to build your roster. That's how good teams fall apart. That's how you go from contending to struggling. The Broncos have dealt with enough of that over the past few years with their own coaching changes and roster overhauls, and I'd bet the organization is desperate to avoid that kind of disconnect moving forward.

So what does this mean for Denver? Well, let's think about it practically. The Broncos have been in a state of transition. New head coach, new direction, trying to figure out what kind of identity they want to build. One of the most fundamental questions an organization has to answer is whether they're going to be a running back driven team or a pass happy team. That's not an either or necessarily, but it's about where you allocate your resources and your draft capital.

The reality is that the 2026 draft class is coming up, and Denver needs to be thinking hard about their priorities. If they believe they've got quarterback issues sorted out, and if they believe their defense is coming together, then maybe they look at investing in a premium running back who can change the way they attack defenses. You can't ignore what Jeremiah Love did in the draft process. That kid made himself a ton of money, and he did it because teams believed in his ability to impact winning.

But here's the counterpoint that I think Denver has to grapple with. In today's NFL, you're not going to win championships without elite quarterback play and defensive excellence. That's just the reality of modern football. You look at the teams winning Super Bowls, and yeah, they've got good running backs, but they're not necessarily using premium draft picks to get them. Most of them are finding solid backs later in the draft or in free agency and maximizing what they've got.

The Broncos are in a spot where they've got to get this decision right. They've got to understand what their team needs are, they've got to understand what the market is telling them about player value, and they've got to make sure that when they're in the draft room, everyone's on the same page. That's not always easy when you've got different voices in the organization with different philosophies about how to build a winning roster. But it's absolutely essential.

What's fascinating to me about watching the draft unfold this way is how it reflects the reality of building a football team in 2026 and beyond. You've got teams that are willing to invest in running back premium. You've got teams that are apparently passing on things their coaches want because they have a different vision for the future. And you've got teams like Denver that are trying to figure out where they fit in all of this.

The Broncos need to be asking themselves serious questions. Are they one or two elite pieces away from contending? If so, is an elite running back one of those pieces? Or are they still in rebuild mode, where they need to focus on the foundation of quarterback and defense before they worry about the backfield? These aren't easy questions to answer, and there's no one right solution that works for every team.

But here's what I know for certain. The team that gets this right, the team that understands its own needs and allocates its resources accordingly, is the team that's going to compete. The Broncos have the pieces to build something special, but they've got to be smart about how they deploy those resources. They've got to learn from what's happening around the league, and they've got to make sure that when they make moves, everyone in the organization is pulling in the same direction.

For Broncos fans, this matters because it tells us something about the direction of the franchise. Are they going to be aggressive in the draft about building a complete rushing attack, or are they going to stay the course and focus on other areas? The answer to that question is going to tell us a lot about what kind of team we're going to see on the field in the coming years. That's what makes this moment important for Denver and for all of us who bleed orange and blue.