To get a sense of just how strange a season it’s been for the Broncos running back group, perhaps it’s easiest to simply ask its mercenary cast of characters whether they’ve ever been part of something like it.
“Nah, never, man. It’s new,” eighth-year man Melvin Gordon said.
“I never have,” said Marlon Mack, a sixth-year player.
How about you, nine-year veteran Latavius Murray?
“I definitely think this is a first,” he said.
Denver exits its bye week carrying four running backs on its 53-man roster — the three above plus Chase Edmonds — but the group hardly resembles that which head coach Nathaniel Hackett and company expected to rely on only a few weeks ago.