It's been a long fall from grace for Denver Broncos running back Montee Ball.
Ball enjoyed a stellar four-year career at Wisconsin in which he rushed for 5,140 yards and 77 (!) touchdowns before being selected in the second-round of the 2013 NFL Draft. Ball was decent in limited action in 2013, carrying the ball 120 times for 559 yards (4.7 YPC) and four touchdowns, but was outshined by Knowshon Moreno, who is currently not on an NFL roster.
Last year was nothing short of disastrous for Ball. He was expected to be the featured runner for the Broncos but an appendectomy, groin injury and general poor play marred his entire season. In five game appearances he carried the ball 55 times for 172 yards (3.1 YPC) and one score. Now, he's in danger of not making the team at all.
Mike Kils of 9news.com left Ball off of his projection for Denver's 53-man roster, hinting that the Broncos could keep a third quarterback instead of a fourth running back. He expects C.J. Anderson, Ronnie Hillman and Juwan Thompson to assume the RB duties.
"Two thumpers and a sprinter," Klis wrote of Denver's trio of rushers. "I hope I'm wrong and Montee Ball becomes the fourth running back, but keeping three quarterbacks instead of two may hurt his chances."
In this scenario, the Broncos keep both Brock Osweiler and Trevor Siemian to back up the 39-year-old Peyton Manning.
Ball's decline coincides with Anderson's rise. Once inserted into the starting lineup mid-season last year, Anderson rushed for 767 yards and eight touchdowns over his final eight games. He also caught 30 passes for 290 yards and four scores in that span.
With Anderson's emergence and Ball's struggles, there doesn't appear to be a whole lot of room for the former second-rounder on the 53-man roster.
