By Rich Tandler
We may not have to wait long to see what Evan Royster has.
The rookie running back, a sixth-round draft pick, was promoted from the practice squad to the active roster earlier this week. The move means a nice bump in pay for Royster, as he will go from making the practice squad salary of $5,700 per week to the NFL rookie minimum, which comes to about $23,400 per week. In addition, he may well get some significant action on Sunday.
When discussing Royster’s elevation, Mike Shanahan said, “We feel like he deserves a chance and one of the reasons we drafted him was to give him an opportunity and we’re going to give him an opportunity this weekend.”
Note the last part about giving him an opportunity this weekend. That would seem to indicate that they intend to make Royster a part of the running back rotation against the Seahawks on Sunday.
Last week against Cowboys running backs carried 19 times. Roy Helu had eight rushes (35 yards), Ryan Torain had five (four yards), and Tashard Choice, who was waived to make room for Royster on the roster, had six attempts (seven yards).
Shanahan has always said that running back is one position that he can’t really evaluate in practice. You can’t really see how a back will react at full speed during a practice often conducted in shells and shorts and without full tackling even when the players are in full pads.
So look for Royster to get about half a dozen carries, maybe more if the running game can manage to get on a roll against Seattle’s eighth-ranked rushing defense. His workload from there will depend on his productivity.
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