DENVER — Between Devontae Booker and Theo Riddick, the Broncos got two carries for 9 yards last season.
Not surprisingly, those two running backs will part ways with the Broncos in 2020 as Booker and Riddick will hit free agency with no plans to return, sources told 9NEWS.
It was Booker got those two carries for 9 yards last year and it was a surprise he didn’t get more. The Broncos’ fourth-round draft pick in 2016, Booker rushed for 612 yards and added another 265 yards receiving with five combined touchdowns as a rookie.
It turned out to be his best season with the Broncos.
He was going to be the Broncos’ lead running back in 2017 but a fractured wrist during the offseason that took a while to diagnose forced him to miss the first three games that season.
By the time he returned, C.J. Anderson was on his way to a 1,000-yard season and Booker was a back-up from then on. Used as a third-down back in 2017-18, Booker wasn’t used at all on offense last year when he watched Phillip Lindsay and Royce Freeman split the reps. Booker did play in all 16 games in a special teams role.
Booker is expected to draw interest from multiple teams after the first wave of free agency, which opens March 18.
Riddick, who turns 29 in May, was signed to a one-year, $2.5 million contract after the Broncos played their preseason Hall of Fame Game on August 1 last year. The former Detroit Lion played six snaps in the Broncos’ second preseason game, but on one he was led too far inside on a slant pattern and wound up getting hit in the shoulder. He found out later he had suffered a fractured shoulder that required surgery.
He missed the entire season although he has been medically cleared and is fully healthy to resume his career.
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