Broncos rookie running back Audric Estime is not eligible to return until week six after suffering an ankle injury in his week one debut against the Seattle Seahawks but the actual length of time set to miss is unknown. He had a rough start to his NFL career after undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery, forcing him to miss OTAs and mandatory minicamp and it has taken a turn for the worse after a disastrous week one. He took two carries for 14 yards including losing a fumble on his first career carry and also sustaining an ankle injury.

Estime always had a tough path to relevancy his rookie season and that path just became incredibly more difficult. If everything fell the right way for Estime, he could’ve shown flashes early on and hopefully taken over the starting job for the fantasy playoff push. However, time and opportunity is what he needed to prove himself and this injury takes both of those away. If you have an open IR spot go ahead and stash Estime to see what happens down the road but if not feel safe dropping him in redraft leagues. Estime’s injury opens the door for Javonte Williams to receive the bulk of the carries as the Broncos don’t have another running back currently on the roster who profiles as a between the tackles runner like Williams and Estime. It may provide a small uptick in the usage of Jaleel McLaughlin and Blake Watson but expect Javonte Williams to be the primary beneficiary of the Estime injury.