Broncos News: RJ Harvey Could See Third-Down Work

RJ Harvey in Position for Third-Down Work

Denver Broncos running back RJ Harvey will “certainly” be in position to serve as the team’s third-down back, according to head coach Sean Payton, per Zac Stevens of TheDNVR.com. Denver continues to sort through a crowded backfield that also includes J.K. Dobbins and fourth-round rookie Jonah Coleman.

Harvey already proved useful in the passing game as a rookie, catching 47 of 58 targets for 356 yards and five touchdowns across 17 games. He also carried the ball 146 times for 540 yards and seven scores, production that ranked among the best for a rookie back in Broncos history.

Payton’s wording is encouraging, but it stops short of naming Harvey the outright winner of the role. Coleman enters the league with his own receiving chops, having topped 1,100 scrimmage yards in each of his final three college seasons at Arizona, while Dobbins remains Denver’s most established runner after producing 772 yards on 153 carries in just 10 games last season before a foot injury ended his year.

Harvey’s clearest path to consistent touches may still run through passing downs, a role Payton has referenced for him dating back to last season as well. That makes this a positive, if not decisive, development for his PPR outlook, even with the overall backfield split still unsettled heading into the regular season.

Do Rookie RBs Need Time in the Sean Payton Offense?

The case for patience: Mark Ingram

Ingram, a first-round pick in 2011, spent three seasons as a backup in New Orleans before becoming a full-time starter in year four (2014). He didn’t top 1,000 rushing yards or score 10 touchdowns in a single season until his sixth year in the league. If there’s a poster child for “Payton backs need time,” it’s Ingram.

The case against it: Alvin Kamara

Kamara is the counterexample, and a big one. A third-round pick in 2017, he was electric from day one, winning Offensive Rookie of the Year while splitting the backfield with Ingram. There was no waiting period. He averaged 7.0 yards per carry as a rookie and became the passing-down weapon almost immediately.

The in-between case: Reggie Bush

Bush, the No. 2 overall pick in 2006, played a significant role right away and actually logged his only full 16-game season as a rookie. He was productive in Payton’s offense from the start, though durability, not development, limited him over his five years there.

The structural pattern that matters more than “year one vs. year two”

The more consistent thread across Payton’s career isn’t rookie hesitancy; it’s that he almost never hands one back a massive workload, rookie or otherwise. Over 15 seasons in New Orleans, a Saints running back topped 200 carries only five times, and never reached 250 carries in a single season. He’s repeatedly preferred a committee, splitting touches by role (early-down banger, passing-down weapon) rather than by a feature back model. Payton has said as much directly, describing it as “easier to manage two” backs and citing reduced pressure on him as a play-caller.

That pattern lines up with what’s happened with RJ Harvey. His limited role as a rookie wasn’t really about Payton withholding trust from a young player, it was the same committee approach he’s run for two decades, just applied to a crowded room that also included Dobbins, Estime, and McLaughlin. The third-down role Payton keeps pointing to for Harvey heading into year two looks less like “he’s finally earned it” and more like Payton settling Harvey into the same kind of role-based ecosystem Kamara thrived in early, rather than Ingram’s slower path to a true workhorse role.