Phillip Lindsay is keeping it 100 about his tumultuous offseason.
During an Instagram Live broadcast on Friday with team legend Terrell Davis, the Denver Broncos running back admitted that he was “really upset” at first when the team signed Melvin Gordon in free agency.
“It caught me off guard because it was like, okay, I’ve put in the work and done all this and it makes it seem like they don’t respect you enough to know the work you’re putting in,” said Lindsay, per Ryan Koenigsberg of DNVR. “So I was really upset at the beginning, I’m not going to lie.
“But then I started to think, and I’m like, okay, the thing is this — if something happens to me or something happens to him, it’s hard,” the 25-year-old went on. “When I wasn’t in the game [last season], stuff was not going as well or smooth. But if you have somebody that can complement me like I did my rookie year where I’m not just running up the middle trying to get first downs all day. I was like, ‘Okay this takes some pressure off me. Now I can do my job and use my speed and do my stuff and stay healthier too.'”
Lindsay paid his dues as an undrafted rookie in 2018, leading the Broncos in rushing after starting the season behind both Devontae Booker and Royce Freeman on the depth chart. He then rushed for 1,011 yards and seven touchdowns as the undisputed starter last season.
The presence of the two-time Pro Bowler Gordon will almost certainly result in Lindsay backsliding into another timeshare in 2020. Lindsay is not shying away from the competition though and has since embraced Gordon’s arrival.
