WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. — Well, there’s the first step for Tyler Badie.
The running back was promoted Wednesday from the Broncos’ practice squad to their 53-man roster. From the active roster,
"I was just grateful,'' Badie said. "All the work I put in, I was just grateful for the opportunity and then the biggest thing is I just want to win games. Just help the team win and that's what I'm here to do."
Badie can now make his move toward the top of the Broncos’ depth chart.
Until Badie’s promotion, the Broncos may have been the NFL’s only team whose top rushing running back through the third week of the season was a practice squad player. Bo Nix is Denver’s leading rusher with 107 yards, but he’s a quarterback who gets many of his yards on non-designed scrambles.
Among the Broncos’ running backs, Badie leads with 86 yards on just 10 carries. Javonte Williams is a distant second with 52 yards on 24 carries. Then it’s Jaleel McLaughlin with just 40 yards on 18 carries.
"Just making the most of my opportunities,'' Badie said while answering questions in a media scrum Wednesday. "I have a great O-line. They help me out from meetings and seeing different things on the field to where when I went out there I was ready to play."
In recent days, Badie clarified the proper pronunciation of his surname. Instead of BAY-dee, as he answered to during his college days at Missouri and how it’s listed in the Broncos’ media guide’s pronunciation page, he recently talked it over with his family who told him it should be Bah-DAY. Now that he’s making a name for himself, it’s good to get it right.
Badie had been elevated from the practice squad to the game-day roster each of the past two weeks and a team is only allowed to use three practice squad elevations in a season. After that, a team can’t use that player unless he’s been promoted to the active 53-man roster. The Broncos promoted Badie a week early – or two weeks late, depending on one’s vantage point – when a roster spot opened with the season-ending injury to linebacker Alex Singleton.
The Broncos have two other rookie running backs on their 53-man roster who they are not using. Fifth-round pick Audric Estime had two carries for 14 yards in the season-opener at Seattle, but suffered an ankle injury that placed him on four-week injured reserve. Undrafted rookie Blake Watson has been inactive through the Broncos’ first three games.
Against the Steelers two weeks ago, Badie had one carry for 16 yards. Javonte Williams, the Broncos’ No. 1 back, had 17 yards on 11 carries.
This past Sunday at Tampa Bay, Badie led all Broncos’ running backs with 70 yards on 9 carries, with 43 coming on an early fourth quarter run.
“He's been really decisive,'' Broncos head coach Sean Payton said of Badie. "He's had some big runs for us. He's smart. He knows the system. He's good in the passing game, he brings a lot.”
