{"id":216425,"date":"2025-02-13T16:30:22","date_gmt":"2025-02-13T21:30:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=216425"},"modified":"2025-02-13T14:54:02","modified_gmt":"2025-02-13T19:54:02","slug":"javonte-williams-listed-as-potential-free-agent-for-the-colts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2025\/02\/13\/javonte-williams-listed-as-potential-free-agent-for-the-colts\/","title":{"rendered":"Former ACC Star Listed as Potential Free Agent for the Colts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Could Javonte Williams sign with the Indianapolis Colts? The team could certainly use running back depth. Mateo Caliz of Stampede Blue<\/a> listed Williams as a potential free-agent target for the Colts:<\/p>\n

\u201cTrey Sermon is not a productive running back, and Jonathan Taylor has suffered his fair share of minor injuries in the past, and has a glaring weakness in the pass-catching department. Enter Javonte Williams, who is still young at 25 years old, and has 158 receptions through his first four seasons in the NFL, which is 17 more than JT in one less season. He was the starter last year for Denver, eventually splitting the backfield with Jaleel McLaughlin, so it is not so certain that he will hit the open market, but if he does he would be the perfect complement to JT in the backfield, and some decent insurance in case the Colts\u2019 star running back misses some time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Running back isn\u2019t necessarily the Colts\u2019 biggest need. Yet, Javonte Williams could be an excellent signing as he\u2019d serve as Jonathan Taylor<\/a>\u2019s backup.<\/p>\n

Javonte Williams Listed as a Potential Free Agent Target for the Indianapolis Colts<\/h2>\n

Williams\u2019 Career<\/h3>\n

Javonte Williams starred at Wallace-Rose Hill High School in Teachey, North Carolina. He rushed for 2,271 rushing yards and 27 touchdowns during his senior year.<\/p>\n

Williams then committed to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. During his final season with the Tar Heels (2020), he rushed for 1,140 yards and 19 touchdowns, making the All-ACC Second Team. He was also teammates with current Colts wide receiver Josh Downs that year.<\/p>\n

The Denver Broncos<\/a> later selected Javonte Williams in the second round of the 2021 NFL Draft. He rushed for 903 yards and four touchdowns. He also caught 43 passes for 319 yards and three touchdowns. For his efforts, he was named to the PFWA All-Rookie Team.<\/sup><\/sup><\/p>\n

\n

In 2022, Williams suffered a season-ending knee injury in Week 4 against the Las Vegas Raiders<\/a>. But fortunately, he bounced back the following year, leading the Broncos with 774 rushing yards.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Williams led the Broncos in rushing yards again this past season with 533 yards. He also finished second on the team in receptions with 52.<\/p>\n

Would He Be a Good Pickup for the Colts?<\/h3>\n

Jonathan Taylor is a superstar running back. <\/a>The former Wisconsin Badger led the league in rushing yards and touchdowns during the 2021 season. After falling to reach 1,000 yards the following two seasons due to injury, Taylor bounced back in 2024, rushing for 1,431 yards and making his second Pro Bowl<\/a>. He was one of the few bright spots for the Colts, who finished 8-9 and missed the playoffs this past season.<\/p>\n

The Colts don\u2019t have a solid backup for Taylor. They had one in 2023 with Zack Moss<\/a>, but he signed with the Cincinnati Bengals<\/a> last offseason. Trey Sermon<\/a>, Taylor\u2019s backup in 2024, didn\u2019t quite replace Moss as the team had hoped.<\/p>\n

Javonte Williams could be the answer for the Colts. He can run (obviously) and catches passes out of the backfield. Plus, he would be an upgrade over Sermon. He\u2019d also be able to help out if Taylor goes down with an injury. So yes, signing Williams this offseason would be a nice move by Indianapolis.<\/p>\n

Main Photo: [Gary A. Vazquez] – USA Today Sports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An analyst listed running back Javonte Williams as a potential free agent target for the Indianapolis Colts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4890,"featured_media":216603,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[54,12],"tags":[7800,7580,6237],"class_list":["post-216425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editorials","category-colts","tag-indianapolis-colts-news","tag-javonte-williams","tag-jonathan-taylor"],"modified_by":"Michael Zimmelman","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4890"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=216425"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216425\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":216604,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216425\/revisions\/216604"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/216603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=216425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=216425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=216425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}