Report: Broncos Had Virtual Combine Visit with Michigan RB Hassan Haskins
While waiting out Melvin Gordon's slow-forming market, the Denver Broncos met with his potential replacement.
The Broncos conducted a virtual interview with University of Michigan running back Hassan Haskins at February's NFL Scouting Combine, Justin Melo of The Draft Network reported March 29.
Haskins was a three-year contributor for the Wolverines program, compiling 2,234 rushing yards and 30 touchdowns on 452 career carries (5.1 yards per carry). In 2021, his lone season as Michigan's RB1, he totaled 1,327 ground yards and 20 TDs, earning first-team All-Big Ten and second-team All-American honors.
The 22-year-old is more thunder than lightning at 6-foot-2, 228 pounds. Haskins is a workmanlike back whom Bleacher Report draft scout Nate Tice assigned a fifth-round "developmental" grade, comparing him to the Texans' Dare Ogunbowale.
"Overall, Haskins will be useful on many NFL teams as a passing-down No. 2 or 3 running back because of his ability to pass protect and his steadiness in the run game and as a pass-catcher," Tice noted. "He lacks the burst, quickness and overall juice teams would want from their main back or even in a featured role in a rotation. But he is an efficient runner who has the tempo and vision to get what’s blocked for him, which can take a couple of carries a game. Haskins is also a tough and competitive player and plays with enough awareness that he can be a solid contributor on special teams as a rookie."
The Broncos — who own pick No. 154 in the fifth round — have three running backs under contract for the 2022 campaign: Javonte Williams, Mike Boone, and Damarea Crockett.
If the team opts against paying the $2.5 million that free-agent Gordon is projected to cost, there's a high probability they import a rookie who chips into the box score each week, by design.
"You want a big stable. You want to have a guy that you can feed and make sure he gets a lot," Broncos head coach Nathaniel Hackett said in March, referencing Williams. "He’s still a young player, and he’s still learning. You want to make sure you can split it as much as you can. I think last year, we had a great—actually, a lot of the places that I’ve been, there’s always been kind of two guys because you always want to try to split the load as much as you can. At the same time, he’s a great player. We’ll just have to see how the whole thing goes.”
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