Ronnie Hillman is movin' on up at Mile High.
The Denver Broncos shifty running back has stood out during the first two preseason games, carrying 16 times for 120 yards, a whopping 7.5 average per carry.
"He's moved himself up. He's had a really good camp," coach Gary Kubiak said, per the team's official website. "... He deserves more reps and if he keeps playing like that, he'll continue to get some more."
As we noted after the Broncos' second preseason contest, it will be difficult for Kubiak to run a bell-cow system with Hillman flashing.
Hillman has showed elusiveness and speed, a perfect match in Kubiak's wide zone running scheme. It isn't as though his 7.5 average this preseason was buoyed by an 80-yard run. He has popped off longs of 23 and 15 yards, meaning he's averaging 5.8 yards per carry on all other runs.
"I feel like I fit in any kind of offense, but this one, it just fits my abilities a lot more than the other ones would," Hillman said.
"In this offense, they just want you to stretch and go downfield as fast as possible," he added. "I think that ties into when you're kind of fast, everybody thinks that you're going to go to the edge, and you just go right up the field."
The fourth-year-back's performance led long-time Broncos reporter Mike Klis to declare Hillman the "1B runner behind C.J. Anderson."
This is a long way of saying if you take Anderson high in your fantasy draft, don't be flabbergasted when he's sharing carries.
The latest Around The NFL Podcast discusses Jordy Nelson's knee injury and gives its winners and losers from Week 2 of the preseason.
