Originally Posted by
UnderArmour
I think you're severely underrating PL. Guy was an undrafted rookie, outperformed his deal by an stretch of the imagination, and came in and make a lot of big plays. It's one thing to say "Okay, he's not the guy," "He's not a scheme fit," "I'd rather see Royce get more carries" vs. "he sucks doesn't belong on a roster." Boone won't be in the NFL in 2 years and might not even make the final roster this year. Guys like Boone get cut at the end of every training camp for rookies. Boone is not as good as, and will never be as good as Philip Lindsay in any aspect of the RB position. Boone is a special teams gunner, and if he has to play any significant reps on offense, then this team is in trouble. There is absolutely no comparison between the two... Lindsay has actual accomplishments as an NFL running back and can make plays. Boone hasn't shown that.
The more closely I look at Boone as a back, the more laughable I find any assertion that Boone is somehow an upgrade. Is there any game situation where you would rather have Boone on the field as RB instead of Lindsay? Hell, even when Dalvin Cook went out, the Vikings preferred to activate Abdullah and give him additional carries behind Mattison instead. Boone is not an upgrade by any stretch of the imagination. This does, however, give the Broncos more roster flexibility on gameday. Usually, the special teams gunner has been a safety or a LB.
When people get past their emotions, this was the Broncos doing Lindsay a solid and letting him save-face by not playing a year on a $2 million tender where he would be on the bench. Lindsay was effectively going to be the number 3 RB, and probably having his snaps cut significantly because of his shortcomings in the areas yourself and others have mentioned. Shurmur started to trust Freeman more to spell Gordon, and Freeman had some moments where he looked like a guy that deserved more playing time.