The Denver Broncos took a hard look at running back depth on Tuesday, bringing in free agents Marcus Yarns, Sam Scott and Jaden Nixon for tryouts as injuries continue to pile up in the backfield. None of the three had been signed as of this writing.
Yarns stands out as the most familiar name in the group. He went undrafted in 2025, had a brief stint with the New Orleans Saints, and later surfaced in the United Football League with the Houston Gamblers.
At 5-foot-11 and 198 pounds, Yarns played his college ball at Maryland, where he logged 365 carries for 2,344 rushing yards, averaged 6.4 yards per attempt, and scored 23 rushing touchdowns in 44 games. He also caught 64 passes for 812 yards and 11 scores.
NFL Media’s scouting profile describes him this way: "Two-year starter from the FCS who needs a very specific role to have a long-term chance," reads his NFL Media scouting profile. "Yarns was a productive three-down player at Delaware.
He’s a slender long-strider with good top-end speed but has very little contact balance and is not built for interior runs in the NFL. He will need to improve his route-running so he can rebrand as a change-of-pace slasher with pass-catching talent."
This was already Yarns’ second look from Denver. The Broncos also hosted him during Organized Team Activities in June, but he left without signing.
The timing of the tryouts says plenty about the Broncos’ current situation. J.K.
Dobbins left Week 2 with leg cramps, and RJ Harvey sat out with a hamstring issue. Denver’s first Week 3 injury report won’t arrive until Wednesday, but if Dobbins is limited and Harvey stays out, the Broncos would be looking at rookie Jonah Coleman and deep reserve Tyler Badie as the only healthy backs.
That leaves open two possibilities: Denver is protecting itself against a thin spot, or it believes the group is on track to get healthy in time for Sunday night’s game against the Los Angeles Rams.
On Monday, Sean Payton made clear the team still has questions to answer. “So yesterday, [RB] RJ [Harvey] was out, and then [RB] J.K.
[Dobbins] got nicked up and wasn’t able to finish," head coach Sean Payton told reporters on Monday. "None of that today on Monday is at a place where we’re-I think all three of those players we’re discussing can be bell cow, handle a majority of the carries.
Yes, I think there’s a lot ahead of us this week relative to who our runners are going to be.”
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