The Denver Broncos ended up addressing the running back position in the 2026 NFL Draft. At pick 108 at the top of the fourth round, Denver snagged Jonah Coleman, a fun running back prospect from Washington.
Coleman is a rugged runner with strong ability in pass protection. He's also not someone who fumbles, so he'll take care of the football. Definitely not a back who can outrun defenders, Coleman brings more of that bruiser mindset to the backfield.
And his presence should pay off immediately, especiall with his pass protection chops, which is such a 'plus' thing to have as a running back. In fact, Coleman now heading to Denver could put a couple of Sean Payton favorites on notice big-time.
Jaleel McLaughlin and Tyler Badie may have to count their days on the Denver Broncos roster
The Broncos did end up actually keeping four running backs on the initial 53-man roster back in 2025, but as we all saw, it ended up being a three-man rotation with J.K. Dobbins, RJ Harvey, and Tyler Badie, who was someone that unfortunately did more harm than good.
When Dobbins went down, though, we did get to see more of McLaughlin, but that wasn't necessarily a good thing. Both McLaughlin and Badie are extremely limited players, and you could argue that neither belongs on an NFL roster.
The Broncos brought both back on deals for the 2026 season, but as you can imagine, neither of them are financially tied to the team in any capacity that would harm the club if the Broncos decided to move on.
With Coleman now in the picture, who brings pass protection upside, and with Harvey obviously being a strong receiving back, the Broncos do have a complete room at the moment if you just filter it to Dobbins, Harvey, and Coleman.
That three-headed monster would be plenty capable of taking 100 percent of the snaps at the position, especially if Dobbins finds a way to stay healthy beyond Week 10. With Coleman set to enter the mix here shortly, Badie and McLaughlin are firmly on the roster bubble.
Denver will also have a fullback in the mix, so the Broncos could realistically go forward with three running backs on the final 53-man roster, and a fullback. Many Broncos fans were able to see that the run game just was not effective when Dobbins went down, and both McLaughlin and Badie contributed to that.
Obviously, Harvey isn't on the roster bubble in any capacity - he's a recent second-round pick, and his spot is locked in, but the two depth options may have both just seen their roster spots disappear with Coleman now being in the picture.