Phillip Lindsay Reached Out to Broncos About Potential Return
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As the Denver Broncos gear up for the 2023 NFL draft, Seattle Sea Dragons running back Phillip Lindsay — of the XFL — had a message for his former team.
“I would love to come back to Denver,’’ Lindsay told Chris Tomasson of The Denver Gazette. “That would be a great storybook ending to a big-time fairy tale. I would be ecstatic. It would be a dream come true again.”
Lindsay's camp reached out to the Broncos about returning and got an answer back, per Tomasson.
Lindsay said his agent Mike McCartney has reached out to the Broncos and been told they want to see how the NFL draft goes before making any possible additional moves at running back.
Lindsay's early NFL career with the Broncos was unprecedented. He produced back-to-back 1,000-yard rushing seasons to open his career as an undrafted free agent, earning a Pro Bowl nod as a rookie. He almost single-handedly kept fans interested in the team amidst three years of forgettable football.
Lindsay departed in 2021 after his camp requested that Broncos GM George Paton rescind the first-right-of-refusal restricted free-agent tender the team had placed on him. Paton obliged and Lindsay ended up signing a one-year deal with the Houston Texans. Lindsay didn't last the year in Houston.
“I had my greatest years in Denver, and it would be great to be able to get an opportunity to finish off my career there,’’ Lindsay told Tomasson. “I wouldn’t be there trying to be a starter, a star. I just want to play my role and help win some games and bring something to Denver.
“At this point of my career, being a role player would be just fine with me, going in there and doing my part on special teams and bringing a spark when I can. Just being a great person and a great vet.”
As an XFL player, Lindsay is fighting to hold onto his professional playing career. Meanwhile, the Broncos' No. 1 running back — Javonte Williams — is recovering from a brutal multi-ligament knee injury suffered last year.
With new head coach Sean Payton in the fold, the Broncos signed two free-agent running backs — Samaje Perine and Tony Jones Jr — to fill out the depth chart and, ostensibly, hedge against any setbacks in Williams' recovery. Many Broncos mock drafts predict the team selecting a running back this year, and Mile High Huddle's senior draft analyst Nick Kendell even circled one player at the position potentially worthy of a trade-up.
I've argued that the Broncos should save the draft pick and sign Lindsay instead. And if Lindsay is willing to accept a "role player" type situation, I've got to say; a 28-year-old veteran of his caliber would make for one heck of a No. 4 running back.
A native of Denver, CO, Lindsay starred at South High School and went on to play his college ball at Colorado University. Known fondly as 'The Colorado Kid,' it would make for a storybook development were Lindsay to reunite with the Broncos.
When I wrote over the weekend that the Broncos should consider Lindsay instead of spending a draft pick on a running back, the common refrain I garnered in the comment sections and social media was that he's "washed" and that it's "time to move on", and so forth.
Lindsay has bounced around the NFL since leaving Denver, and his absence from a league roster does speak to how general managers view him, on some level. But in the creative, innovative hands of a coach like Payton, I have a sneaking suspicion that Lindsay could still make some hay in the NFL.
It'll be interesting to see how the Broncos take Lindsay's message ahead of the NFL draft. It was a year ago that the Broncos decided to re-sign Melvin Gordon, on the doorstep of the draft, after he'd languished on the free-agent market for months.
Stay tuned.
In the player below, the Mile High Huddle Podcast debates the pros and cons of the Broncos re-signing Lindsay. Give it a listen.
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