Why Phillip Lindsay believes he'll be a better receiving back in 2020

DENVER — In 2018, the Broncos landed one of college football’s most productive pass-catching running backs. It wasn’t third-round pick Royce Freeman. Instead, it was undrafted running back Phillip Lindsay.

However, despite becoming the first undrafted running back to rush for back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons to begin his career, catching the ball out of the backfield has become one of the rare knocks on the Colorado Native early in his career.

But there was a reason that part of his game took a hit, specifically in 2019.

“[Last year] I came off my wrist injury and it was tougher than I thought,” Lindsay said on Tuesday, talking about the wrist injury he sustained in Week 16 of the 2018 season. “I thought the wrist injury wasn’t going to be as bad as it was.”

Lindsay’s rookie season ended one game early after fracturing and damaging ligaments in his wrist against the Raiders. He needed surgery to repair it, which caused him to miss the majority of the 2019 offseason.

“That wrist injury really did a toll on me when it came to working out because I came from having to sit out for four to five months to just rushing right into camp,” Lindsay said. “I didn’t get that development like I did this year.”

After a tougher-than-expected recovery from the initial surgery, Lindsay had a significantly smaller procedure done on his wrist at the beginning of the 2020 offseason.

“This year, I feel good. I feel good,” he said with his typical confidence. “Pass-catching wise, I feel really good. I feel like I’m back to myself… At the end of the day, I’m going to catch every ball that comes my way and there’s nothing else I can say about that.”

Point taken, Phil.

At the University of Colorado, Lindsay was a dependable pass catcher, racking up over 1,000 receiving yards for his career. During his junior season, Lindsay had the fourth-most receiving yards in all of college, nearly hitting 500 yards through the air.

However, during his first two years in the NFL, his production as a receiving back decreased. As a rookie, Lindsay had 241 receiving yards and one touchdown on 35 catches, but in 2019 he had just 196 yards and zero touchdowns on 35 catches.

While there was no official in-person offseason program this year due to COVID-19, Drew Lock and many of the offensive players met multiple times throughout the offseason to work through the playbook on the field.

“For me, it helped me get my hands back where they were my rookie year and in college, feeling good,” Lindsay said, explaining the benefits of the player-only workouts. “You need that repetition. For me, I’m happy I was able to get it with [Drew].”

Along with being able to work on his receiving abilities this offseason, Lindsay was also able to work out significantly more than last offseason. He gained 10 pounds of muscle.

“Feel good. Feel fast,” he said. “I feel really good. I feel healthy. I feel explosive. And I feel like I’m going to have a helluva season this year.”

With the addition of Melvin Gordon, Lindsay still doesn’t know how the running-back workload will be divvied up. And frankly, he doesn’t care.

“My job is when I get the ball, when I’m in the game, to make an explosive play,” Lindsay stated. “For me, I’ve never needed 15, 25, a bunch of carries. I just need to get a couple carries that fit me and I’m going to explode. That’s what I’m going to continue to do. That’s all you’re going to get from me.”

“I’m going to continue to make Bronco Country proud by what I do and that’s be fiery and everything else,” the fan-favorite said. “I can’t control everything else. I can’t control what people do and how they act and what they think about me. But I can control myself and making plays and I’ve always been successful making plays.”

In 2020, Lindsay believes many of those plays will be through the air. Thanks to a full healthy wrist, Lindsay will catch every ball that comes his way. And that’s all that needs to be said on the issue, according to Phil.