Jonah Coleman makes my short list of rookies who flashed some in the preseason. He’s different than Denver’s other running backs.
Up front, I’ll concede I may have some unintentional bias with Coleman. He played his college ball on the other side of the lake, so I’m more familiar with him than a typical rookie back. He spent two years at Washington after playing two seasons at Arizona.
Coleman didn’t play a ton in the preseason game, but he looks like he’s progressing at a decent clip. At 5-foot-8 and 220 pounds, he’s a bowling bal, with a tendency to fall forward. He carried 4 times for 24 yards at Atlanta, including a 13-yarder. More impressively in that game, there was a pass play where he was able to identify the free rusher, sliding over to pick up the block.
Coleman wasn’t as impressive in the Green Bay game. He was out there early, working with the first-unit offense, but just 3 carries for 9 yards, and a catch that lost 2 yards.
Now, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Coleman in 25 games at Washington ran for 1,811 yards, averaging 5.2 yards, while picking up another 531 on 54 receptions. He scored 27 touchdowns in those 25 games. Decent stats, but not noteworthy in comparison with the many other drafted backs.
Coleman isn’t fast, which played a role in him sliding to the fourth round. He opted not to run at the Combine (probably a smart move) but you see him getting run down from behind on college runs. So perhaps a 4.6 guy.
But Coleman looks like he’ll be sticking around, and he combos nicely with Denver’s other backs. Both J.K. Dobbins and RJ Harvey are smaller, less physical backs. I would think Coleman will be opening as the third back on that team, getting mixed in some. Sean Payton has long had a history of rotating his running backs.
Payton also has shown a willingness to use lightly regarded rookie running backs. In New Orleans, he had a pair of undrafted rookie backs who played significant roles – Pierre Thomas and Chris Ivory, and also used Khiry Robinson some. With Denver, he mixed in another undrafted back in 2023 (Jaleel McLaughlin). Payton in 2024 drafted Audric Estime, who was another attempt at landing the type of larger back he’s probably hoping Coleman can be.
All those backs, of course, came in with lesser expectations. During his 18 years as a head coach, Payton has also authorized top-100 draft picks to be used on four other running backs – Reggie Bush, Mark Ingram, Alvin Kamara and Harvey.
Ultimately, I don’t think Coleman merits anything more than late-round flyer. It will be hard for him to climb out of a committee into a larger role. But a guy I’ll be watching.
In Payton’s 18 seasons as a head coach, there have been only 10 games where a lightly-regarded rookie running back put up at least 10 fantasy points (using PPR scoring). And only another 13 where a back put up even 5 points. (By “lightly regarded”, I’m showing only backs not drafted in the first three rounds – not showing Bush, Ingram, Kamara or Harvey.) Backs who officially started (on field for first play) tagged with black dots.
| SEAN PAYTON'S LIGHTLY REGARDED ROOKIE BACKS | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Rk | Wk | Opp | Result | Rushing | Receiving | PPR |
| 2007 | • Pierre Thomas | 17 | at Chi. | L, 25-33 | 20-105-0 | 12-121-1 | 40.6 |
| 2010 | Chris Ivory | 13 | at Cin. | W, 34-30 | 15-117-2 | 0-0-0 | 23.7 |
| 2023 | Jaleel McLaughlin | 4 | at Chi. | W, 31-28 | 7-72-0 | 3-32-1 | 19.4 |
| 2010 | • Chris Ivory | 6 | at T.B. | W, 31-6 | 15-158-0 | 1-17-0 | 18.5 |
| 2023 | Jaleel McLaughlin | 5 | NYJ | L, 21-31 | 9-68-0 | 3-21-1 | 17.9 |
| 2010 | Chris Ivory | 11 | Sea. | W, 34-19 | 23-99-1 | 0-0-0 | 15.9 |
| 2010 | Chris Ivory | 12 | at Dall. | W, 30-27 | 7-38-2 | 0-0-0 | 15.8 |
| 2013 | Khiry Robinson | 6 | at N.E. | L, 27-30 | 7-53-1 | 0-0-0 | 11.3 |
| 2024 | • Audric Estime | 16 | at LAC | L, 27-34 | 9-48-1 | 0-0-0 | 10.8 |
| 2023 | Jaleel McLaughlin | 16 | N.E. | L, 23-26 | 6-37-0 | 4-30-0 | 10.7 |
| 2024 | Audric Estime | 18 | K.C. | W, 38-0 | 12-34-1 | 0-0-0 | 9.4 |
| 2023 | • Jaleel McLaughlin | 17 | LAC | W, 16-9 | 8-44-0 | 3-18-0 | 9.2 |
| 2007 | Pierre Thomas | 7 | Atl. | W, 22-16 | 2-28-1 | 0-0-0 | 8.8 |
| 2007 | Pierre Thomas | 16 | Phi. | L, 23-38 | 5-18-0 | 4-28-0 | 8.6 |
| 2010 | • Chris Ivory | 4 | Car. | W, 16-14 | 12-67-0 | 0-0-0 | 6.7 |
| 2023 | Jaleel McLaughlin | 11 | Min. | W, 21-20 | 1-1-0 | 5-14-0 | 6.5 |
| 2023 | Jaleel McLaughlin | 2 | Was. | L, 33-35 | 1-5-1 | 0-0-0 | 6.5 |
| 2023 | • Jaleel McLaughlin | 6 | at K.C. | L, 8-19 | 7-30-0 | 2-12-0 | 6.2 |
| 2023 | Jaleel McLaughlin | 8 | K.C. | W, 24-9 | 4-33-0 | 2-6-0 | 5.9 |
| 2023 | Jaleel McLaughlin | 7 | G.B. | W, 19-17 | 5-45-0 | 1-1-0 | 5.6 |
| 2024 | Audric Estime | 11 | Atl. | W, 38-6 | 6-16-0 | 3-9-0 | 5.5 |
| 2024 | Audric Estime | 10 | at K.C. | L, 14-16 | 14-53-0 | 0-0-0 | 5.3 |
| 2010 | Chris Ivory | 9 | at Car. | W, 34-3 | 12-50-0 | 0-0-0 | 5.0 |
| 2013 | Khiry Robinson | 17 | T.B. | W, 42-17 | 12-50-0 | 0-0-0 | 5.0 |
| 2010 | • Chris Ivory | 7 | Cle. | L, 17-30 | 15-48-0 | 0-0-0 | 4.8 |
| 2010 | Chris Ivory | 14 | St.L. | W, 31-13 | 7-47-0 | 0-0-0 | 4.7 |
| 2024 | Audric Estime | 17 | at Cin. | L, 24-30 | 9-24-0 | 1-13-0 | 4.7 |
| 2023 | Jaleel McLaughlin | 14 | at LAC | W, 24-7 | 5-25-0 | 1-7-0 | 4.2 |
| 2023 | Jaleel McLaughlin | 13 | at Hou. | L, 17-22 | 4-15-0 | 2-6-0 | 4.1 |
—Ian Allan
