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Reporter believes Broncos have Plan B if they don't land Cook
Former Cleveland Browns running back Kareem Hunt. Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

Reporter believes Broncos have Plan B if they don't land Dalvin Cook

Free agent running back Dalvin Cook has a list of potential suitors and multiple reports indicate that the Denver Broncos and Miami Dolphins are at the top of that list.

While the Broncos have arguably the worst running back room in the NFL, adding a player of Cook’s caliber would go a long way in helping Denver create a formidable ground game. 

And as Tyler Sullivan of CBS Sports recently wrote, if the Broncos swing and miss on Cook, there is another starting-caliber free agent RB who could find himself in orange and blue sometime soon.

Kareem Hunt will be only 28 years old by the time the regular season starts, so he has plenty left in the tank to help a franchise,” Sullivan wrote. “Denver makes plenty of sense as a possible landing spot with running back Javonte Williams rebounding off of a torn ACL that he suffered last year. Hunt could come in and assume the bulk of the carries early in the year and assume a backup/change of pace role whenever Williams is healthy enough to assume more of the workload. The Broncos were one of the teams reportedly linked to Dalvin Cook this offseason, so if they strike out on him Hunt would be a nice consolation prize.”

At 28, Hunt would be the Broncos oldest running back by only a year. Although he’s served in a backup role to Nick Chubb in Cleveland for the last four seasons, Hunt rushed for an NFL-leading 1,327 yards as a rookie as the Chiefs starting RB in 2017. 

The Broncos have had a 1,000-yard rusher just five times since 2010, and it could be argued Hunt is still a 1,000-yard back but he simply wasn’t given the opportunity to prove it in Cleveland.

Denver's top two leading rushers last season, Latavius Murray (703 yards) and Melvin Gordon III (318 yards), are no longer with the team. Samaje Perine, who had 394 yards and two touchdowns with the Cincinnati Bengals last season, was added to compete with third-year back Javonte Williams, who suffered a torn ACL last year, for starting reps.

But beyond those two, the depth chart is lacking. Tyler Badie, Tony Jones Jr. and rookie Jaleel McLaughlin have just 68 carries for 179 yards between them, and adding Hunt would give Denver a tailback with 36 games of starting experience and 31 career touchdowns.

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