ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — As questions start to swirl about the Denver Broncos’ running back depth chart, the answer might just be worthy of a Michelin star. As in, coach Sean Payton wants to see who can cook with the ball in their hands during training camp.

“When a play is blocked, you want to see that yardage and then some,” Payton said. “The good runners, they add a little spaghetti sauce to the recipe [and] that’s important.”

Payton was reluctant to lean on Denver’s somewhat disjointed rushing attack last season, and the Broncos tinkered with their lineup this offseason. Their leading rusher, 2021 second-round pick Javonte Williams, left for the Dallas Cowboys in free agency with essentially a “thank you” and polite wave. The Broncos then brought in a second-round pick in April’s draft, trading up to select UCF running back RJ Harvey.

Denver wasn’t done with its offseason RB moves in April, though. After seeing their cast of backs — including holdovers Jaleel McLaughlin, Audric Estime and Blake Watson — work through rookie minicamp and OTAs, they agreed to a one-year deal with veteran J.K. Dobbins during their June minicamp.

Even after the Dobbins signing, Payton isn’t ready to project what the running back room will look like in September — because the Broncos want to sort it out in earnest this August.

“I’m looking forward to seeing how they play — they’re going to get opportunities,” Payton said. “Audric is going to get opportunities, we’ve seen Jaleel. Don’t try to figure out the club right now. It’s way too early.”

Williams was easily the Broncos’ busiest back last season, with a team-high in carries (139) and rushing yards (513), as well as the second-most receptions (52). But the backfield rotation never seemed to sit right with Payton, who often referred to the difficulty of using a three-back rotation involving Williams, McLaughlin and Estime.

Then there was Payton’s hand-written “Run It!” note on his play sheet in a December loss to the Los Angeles Chargers, which the Broncos did not follow. And in the playoff loss to the Buffalo Bills, the Broncos made Estime a healthy game-day inactive and gave the player they kept in uniform instead of him — Tyler Badie — only two carries. But to really discover the source of the Broncos’ frustrations with their run game last season, just dive into the numbers, where we’ll find a lack of the “sauce” Payton wants.

The Broncos were decidedly middle-of-the-road in many rushing statistics last season: 16th in rushing overall, 11th in rushing first downs and 14th in explosive runs (10 or more yards). The rub was they did all this behind the league’s best run blockers. Denver led the league in run block win rate (74.9%) and run block wins across the formation on each play (5.25). The Broncos’ guards (Quinn Meinerz and Ben Powers) led the NFL in run block win rate at their position. Denver’s center (Luke Wattenberg) was third at his position. And the Broncos’ tackles (Mike McGlinchey and Garett Bolles) were seventh at theirs.

In short, the Broncos consistently carved out more lanes for their running backs than any other team in the league but didn’t get much return. According to NFL Next Gen Stats, the Broncos were 24th in rushing yards gained over expectation — which is partially based on what the backs did with how well the offensive line blocked — and were one of 10 teams with a negative rating.

Enter Dobbins and Harvey to help improve those numbers. Sixth-year vet Dobbins is also expecting an increased leadership role in the RB room, where the other players have a combined four seasons of NFL experience.

“I feel like I’m where I need to be,” Dobbins said. “I know this room is also young. I want to … help them grow as NFL players, because it can be tough.”

Dobbins likely has the early advantage for the most snaps in the room because of his ability as a pass blocker and “intelligence on third down,” as Broncos defensive coordinator Vance Joseph put it during minicamp. He’s also coming off a career-high 905 rushing yards with the Chargers in 2024, despite missing four games due to an MCL sprain.

“When you see [Dobbins’] consistency, it’s not an accident,” Payton said. “It’s another good football player we’re adding to our team. Then we’ll see how training camp goes, see how all the carries go.”

When Harvey was drafted, Payton said the rookie has the vision needed to also be a consistent ball carrier. And Dobbins said he sees a “special player” in Harvey, who ran for 10-plus yards on a class-best 23% of his carries in 2024.

“[Harvey is] going to be really good,” Dobbins said. “He’s going to help me out, and I’m going to help him out. He’s going to be great.”

Regardless, Harvey and Dobbins will need to showcase their “sauce” during training camp like everyone else. Payton expects the depth chart to automatically reveal itself at that point.

“When that time comes, you guys are going to know just like I’m going to know,” Payton said. “You’re going to see it.”