Make the Case: Will Javonte Williams rush for 1,000 yards in 2022?

Will Javonte Williams have his first 1,000-yard rushing season of his career in 2022?

That is the question.

This is the debate.

The Situation

For a second-straight season, the Denver Broncos’ running back room will feature two legitimate starting-caliber players with Javonte Williams and Melvin Gordon.

In their first year together, Williams and Gordon split the workload evenly. Literally. In 2021, they each had 203 carries. Gordon racked up 918 yards on the ground and Williams added 903.

Last year, Gordon started all 16 games he played in, with Williams starting the one game Melvin missed due to a sickness. However, Williams will have a chance to be the starter in 2022.

Despite sharing the backfield again, will Williams be able to top 1,000 rushing yards for the first time in his career?

The Cases

This will happen — Zac

As a rookie, the talented second-round back was only 97 yards shy of topping 1,000.

That was with splitting carries exactly down the middle with Melvin Gordon. That was on an offense that opposing defenses could load the box against. That was his first year in the NFL.

None of those factors will be against Javonte in 2022.

Instead, opposing defenses will have to focus on stopping Russell Wilson and Denver’s passing game first. This will allow for significantly fewer eight-man boxes and much more defensive backs on the field for Javonte to plow through.

Additionally, while Williams will split carries with Gordon, it won’t be exactly down the middle and it’ll favor Javonte. Last year, Williams only started one game. Expect him to get the bulk of the starts, if not every single one.

Both of these reasons, on top of the fact that Williams will have a full offseason in the NFL under his belt entering 2022, will allow him to have a significantly bigger year this year than last. And to top 1,000 yards, he only needs 97 more than he had last year. That’s an easy task for No. 33.

This will not happen — RK

Let me start by saying this is in no way an indictment on Javonte or my feelings about his talent, but there’s only one football.

If there’s one thing we know about Nathaniel Hacket, it’s that he’s going to “Let Russ Cook.” Just look at Aaron Rodgers’ MVP season last year. In 2021, Rodgers dropped back 561 times, while the combination of Aaron Jones and A.J. Dillion combined for just 358 rushing  attempts. In the end, both Jones and Dillion each finished with almost exactly 800 yards on the season.

And that leads me to my next point, the Melvin Gordon effect. While Javonte is an electric back who brings a ton of excitement to the backfield, Melvin Gordon is the measure of consistency as a runner. While he might not make as many “wow” plays, Gordon does a great job of getting consistent chunks every time he gets the ball and because of that, he’s going to get the ball. Coaches love consistency and that’s exactly what Gordon brings.

When all is said and done, I think Gordon and Williams will have very siimilar carry numbers and very similar rushing totals, just the same way it was in Green Bay last season.

Javonte will be awesome, but he’s simply not going to get the ball enough to eclipse 1,000 yars this year.