Paton: Javonte Williams ‘on track’ to return Week 1

Denver Broncos general manager George Paton provided an update on running back Javonte Williams saying he is ‘on track’ to return at the start of next season. This is huge news given Williams had suffered multiple ligament tears on his knee in Week 4 of last season.

A few weeks ago, Williams told Troy Renck of Denver 7 that he was able to do everything they have asked of him.

However, the timetable for his return could be overly optimistic. For example, Baltimore Ravens running back J.K. Dobbins suffered similar ligament tears during the 2021 preseason and did not have an impactful return until late in the 2022 regular season after several setbacks delayed his return. While he did have other injuries on top of those ligament tears, the knee injury was the main rehab he had to go through.

It’s good that he is on track right now, but given how other guys with his type of injury needed more time than expected to return to full strength, I would prefer they bring Williams back into the fold as safely as possible. Paton did add the caveat that they’d have a plan in place if Williams ends up needing more time to come back from this injury.

Williams had a strong rookie reason where he split carries behind Melvin Gordon. He carried the ball 203 times for 903 yards and four touchdowns, but he was also a strong receiving threat with 43 receptions out of the backfield for 316 yards and three more touchdowns. He was on track to to top both of those numbers before that Week 4 injury, so getting him back full strength would be really good for the Broncos’ offense.