ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Who’s going to be the Broncos starting running back?

It appears the Broncos are as unsure of that answer as we are in asking it. Through four practices now, the running back race looks as wide open as the Colorado plains.

With full pads going on Tuesday for the first time all practice, we keyed in on the running backs to see if we could gain a better understanding of where this thing is headed.

WHAT WE SAW TODAY

Overall, it was a pretty good day for all of the backs.

One thing to keep in mind when evaluating backs during training camp is that, even in full pads, the defense isn’t allowed to tackle. With that being said, it’s hard to tell whether or not a guy could have broken the last line of defense, evaded the defense in the backfield, and so on.

As has been the case going all the way back to OTAs, all five running backs are rotating reps with the first team. For the most part, Devontae Booker has gone with the ones and twos while all four of the other backs have repped with all three teams.

On Tuesday, Booker took the first rep, followed by Phillip Lindsay, Royce Freeman, De’Angelo Henderson and David Williams. For the most part, that order has been fluid on a daily basis.

Booker

Most of what I saw from Booker today was good. I thought it was his best day of camp so far. He’s struggled to make any big plays up to this point, but on this day, he had a few.

His best run of the day came on the first play of the second team period. On a stretch run to the left, Booker took the rock and quickly cut back to the right, finding a hole between the center and the guard and bursting out for a big gain. Again, what may have happened against the safeties is all up to speculation, but with a good move, Booker could have gone for six.

Later, during the same drive, he took a similar handoff and bounced it to the outside, gaining another first down.

With Booker getting the most consistent reps with the ones of the group, he also has the misfortune of going up against the No. 1 defense the most, and they’ve shown to be stout up front thus far, but today was a strong outing for the favorite to get the job coming into camp.

Lindsay

After exploding on the first day of camp with the eye-popping plays, things have quieted down a bit for Phil in that respect, but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t had strong performances.

Today, Lindsay was in on the second play with the first team, and he’s been getting a lot of opportunities to prove himself as more than just a gimmicky scat back.

On one play today, Lindsay—listed at 5-foot-8 and 190 pounds—displayed one of the few advantages of being a small guy going in between the tackles. On a play that seemed to be stuffed, Lindsay blended in behind the mammoths on the offensive line and kept his legs churning as the defense stopped up all the gaps. On the backside of the play, a hole opened up, and No. 2 went shooting through, making it to the second level before much of the ‘D’ even knew where he was.

The play of the day for the rookie, though, came on a snap in which he didn’t even touch the ball. Repping with the first team, Lindsay was in on pass protection as Case Keenum dropped back to pass. Blazing in from the defensive backfield was Justin Simmons who was sent on a blitz. After not seeing him until the last second, Lindsay jolted over to pick up the blitz and push Simmons behind the play, allowing the quarterback to step up in the pocket and deliver a touchdown pass to Tim Patrick.

If Lindsay can continue to show that he can pick up blitzes like that, he’s going to be quite alright.

Freeman

There have been some reports out there that Freeman is in the driver’s seat to get the job in the early going at camp. That may be the case, but I must admit I haven’t seen him separate himself to this point.

That’s not meant to be a knock on Freeman, who has had his share of nice plays, but at the moment, he appears to be right in the middle of the peloton with the rest of the group.

On Tuesday, the most impressive trait No. 37 showed out there was his acceleration. For a bigger back, he can get up to speed very quickly, and when he does, he’s going to be a problem for second-level players. On one very-well-blocked play from the offensive line, Freeman burst through the hole and for a quick second I thought it was De’Angelo Henderson based on how fast he was moving.

The rookie has all of the tools, but he’s yet to put them all together on the same day and run away from his competitors the way he’s able to run away from defenders.

Williams

If I was ranking all of the backs today based on their performance, I would put Dave “The Accountant” Williams on the top of the list.

In my notebook, the words “patience” and “vision” both popped up three and four times respectively. While he has a bit of a bad habit of running too upright, it seems as if he likes to use that extra height to see the field in front of him a bit better.

Williams had multiple plays today that could only be described as Le’Veon Bell-esque based on his patience waiting behind the line for the play to develop.

On his first carry of the day, Williams took a zone-read handoff from Chad Kelly and took it back the other way—as if to disagree with Kelly’s decision to hand the ball off—made one cut, and took it to the house from about 20 yards out.

Later, working with Andy Janovich in front of him, Williams nearly came to a complete stop in the backfield while looking for a hole to open up. As Jano bounced to the outside and cleared out a linebacker, Williams slipped right between the collision and the left tackle to break off a nice first down run.

While Lindsay garners much of the fanfare, Williams appears to be the real deal, as well.

Henderson

Out of all of the backs, Henderson had the most explosive play of the day.

Early on in practice, Henderson took a stretch run to the outside and hit the burners up the sideline for what could have been a long touchdown in live action.

He’s sort of fallen down on the hype meter because of all of the talent around him, but don’t get it twisted, he’s still a very exciting player to watch. A race between he and Phillip Lindsay would be interesting to watch, but that should tell you that his speed is top notch.

On Monday, Henderson probably had the best catch that any back has had this camp and he laid out and dragged his toes on the sideline, looking more like Demaryius Thomas than De’Angelo Henderson to haul in a pass from a scrambling Case Keenum.

It’s going to be interesting to see what the Broncos do with their five backs come cut day, but Henderson is most certainly going to help in making the decision very difficult.

HOW IT STANDS NOW

I’m not going to lie to you. As things stand, the entire group is way too close to call.

Knowing what we think we know, the tendency is to put Devontae Booker and Royce Freeman at the top of the list, with the other three competing for the third spot behind them. As I said on the BSN Broncos Podcast, though, if you had watched practices to this point with no preconceived notions, I’m not sure you would come to that same conclusion.

We will definitely update this position again as camp goes on and, hopefully, the players begin to separate themselves.

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING ABOUT IT

Vance Joseph on if a running back stood out now that pads are on

“It’s practice; they’re all grinding away. They’re all showing great balance, and that’s important with young backs to take contact and don’t fall to the ground. They’ve all shown that. No. 2 (Phillip Lindsay) has shown explosion, 37 (Royce Freeman) has shown his power and 36 (David Williams) has got great feet. De’Angelo [Henderson] has come back in great shape, and he’s back to being explosive again. All five guys are being productive.”

Ron Leary on if any of the running backs have stood out to him

“All of them. I was just talking about that with D.T. yesterday. We were talking about them, and we had something good to say about every single one. There isn’t one that has just really taken that role, but all of them are great. It’s going to be a hard decision, and I’m glad that I’m not a coach that has to make that decision on who we keep at running back.”

Todd Davis on what he has seen in the running backs

“They look good. They all look good. No. 2 (RB Phillip Lindsay), He’s a shifty little back, but he can definitely make people miss. De’Angelo [Henderson Sr.] looks good, like he did last year. Our backs are look really tremendous. Book (RB Devontae Booker), he’s Book. He’s going to make plays, going to make people miss, jump over people. That’s what he does. I’m excited for the running back group.”