C.J. Anderson's Injury Gives Devontae Booker Opportunity to Shine for Broncos

There are some injuries throughout the course of a season that can reach up and clock an NFL team right in the kisser.

I’m talking about the injuries that rip up the very blueprint upon which the team was built. And I’m talking about the kind of tears and breaks that dismantle the core character of an offense or defense.

Losing running back C.J. Anderson could have easily been such a blow for the Denver Broncos in their efforts to defend a title in 2016. His injury certainly still stings, but if the Broncos' running back depth continues to rise, then Anderson going down with a partially torn meniscus should result in only a brief stumble and not a face-plant.

Anderson suffered the injury Monday night during the Broncos’ dismantling win over the Houston Texans. There were murmurs about an extended absence throughout the week, and it’s still not clear exactly how long he’ll be sidelined.

But we do know this, courtesy of 9News’ Mike Klis: Anderson likely won’t take a meaningful snap again for at least two months.

The low end of that timetable would have Anderson back by about Week 15. With the Broncos’ bye in Week 11, he’d then be missing six games.

That means the rosiest and most optimistic scenario has the 5-2 Broncos—who are suddenly in a division dogfight with the Oakland Raiders, who are very much relevant again—playing without a running back who averaged 4.7 yards per carry during their 2015 championship run. Anderson was also a weapon in the passing game and finished with 903 yards from scrimmage.

Normally, it would be crushing for a team propped up by its defense to lose a running back of Anderson's caliber at midseason. The pain would typically throb that much more when a heavily run-oriented offense has Trevor Siemian under center. He's been an occasionally promising though still unproven quarterback who will make just his seventh career start Sunday.

But normally a young and fresh running back with Devontae Booker’s dynamic talent isn’t ready to take the backfield keys immediately.

Booker is an exclamation point at the end of the “next man up” football cliche. He’s the sort of powerful and punishing downhill runner every team wants as the rising secondary option or replacement if the starter goes down.

We'll likely find out fast that Booker is much more than the Robin to Anderson's Batman. With his play, the 24-year-old has already been hinting strongly that he’s the better primary option.

Over the Broncos’ past four games, Anderson was still getting the larger slice of Denver’s backfield-carry pie. But Booker has been surging while averaging a whole yard more per carry.

Running back	Carries	Yards	Yards/carry
Devontae Booker	35	182	5.2
C.J. Anderson	56	234	4.2

It was encouraging to see a retro version of Anderson on Monday when he jumped back in time all the way to 2015. He plowed through the Texans for 107 rushing yards and a touchdown, totals that become even more impressive because he left the game briefly after first suffering his injury. Of Anderson’s 16 carries that night, four ended in gains of 10-plus yards.

But we’ve witnessed only a fleeting glimpse of that Anderson in 2016. When the lens is widened to look at his entire season, the view isn’t pretty.

Anderson has been a lumbering plodder, which is why it’s easy to be intrigued by Booker and entertain visions of the Broncos' power-running offense improving because of his increased workload.

Anderson will now be sidelined after playing seven games. In five of those games, he posted a per-carry rushing average below 4.0 yards, bottoming out at 2.6 twice.

Week	Yards/carry
1	4.6
2	3.7
3	2.6
4	2.6
5	3.7
6	3.7
7	6.7

Look at those averages and then watch Booker barrel through several defenders while producing 313 yards from scrimmage on only 60 touches. The rookie can be plugged in, and the rushing machine will keep humming smoothly.

There is some concern, however, and it lies in continuity.

Siemian is essentially still a rookie, too, as far as his starting experience is concerned. So there’s a sense of security and trust when he has Anderson, a four-year veteran, as support. Siemian has grown comfortable with Anderson as a pass-catching option when the pocket breaks down. That’s why the 2014 Pro Bowler is currently third among Broncos pass-catchers with 128 receiving yards.

But Booker has proven to be capable in that area too during his limited opportunities, finishing with 36 receiving yards on four catches in Week 5. More importantly, his pass-blocking ability has earned praise from Broncos head coach Gary Kubiak. That’s usually a giant looming hurdle for rookie running backs and an obstacle in the push for more playing time.

Anderson’s injury still creates challenges for the Broncos offense. The unit’s foundation lies in the backfield, and now depth there has taken a critical hit.

If Booker scales the rookie wall at any point, the offensive focus will shift to Siemian’s arm, which will make for nervous times in Denver. Pushing an offense downfield has been a hit-or-miss assignment so far for Siemian (but mostly miss).

He hasn’t made many mistakes (only three interceptions), which are the first line in his job description as a game manager. But he’s also averaged a meager 201.8 passing yards per game with only eight passing touchdowns, four of which came in one week.

There will be more pressure on a suffocating defense too, with the margin for error low if Booker struggles at all. The Broncos offense isn’t built to come from behind, so the defense can’t drift far from its current per-game average of 16.7 points allowed.

But those are worst-case scenario fears. Overall, there’s still a team and an offense in Denver with the pieces in place to claw for the AFC West crown again and potentially go deep into the playoffs.

The Broncos will just be swapping one piece for another as Booker slides in.