Javonte Williams is just like us.

He might be a professional running back, but his summer goal? Most relatable. Shed a few pounds.

Turns out, he might have slightly better willpower than most.

Williams lost 11 pounds over just a few weeks, reported to training camp at 221 and caught the eye of Broncos head coach Sean Payton in the process.

How did the newly minted health guru do it in just an abbreviated stretch working out in the North Carolina heat?

“A whole lot of sacrifices,” he said with a laugh.

Most notably: “I just didn’t eat after 7 p.m.” he said. “And I cut all my snacks out. I like to snack a lot. Like Takis and things like that. I cut all that out.”

Duly noted. The commitment to slimming down came after a talk with Payton during the offseason program about what the coach wanted to see from him this fall.

“The type of coach Coach Payton is, he’s seen a lot of great running backs come through. So anything he says I’m going to listen to,” Williams said. “Just for him to even care and just to tell me, ‘This is what I want you to be when you come back to have the best chance to do what you have to do’ — that by itself showed me he cared and if he puts that much effort into it, I will, too.”

Williams knows he’s in what could well turn into a feisty battle for work in the Denver running backs room.

“It’s going to be real intense and that’s the way you should want it to be,” Williams said.

QB rotation. After Jarrett Stidham took the No. 1 reps Wednesday, rookie Bo Nix got most of the top group turns Thursday.

“We’ll keep you filled in on how we do that day-by-day,” Payton said.

Wouldn’t Zach Wilson, the third man in the competition, be up Friday, then?

“I said I’ll fill you in tomorrow. We’ll see how it goes,” Payton said.

The coach also noted that the coaches and front office have a Thursday night personnel meeting where they’ll evaluate the past two days and set the course for the coming stanza of camp.

Sterns’ recovery not done yet. Caden Sterns is hoping to be back on the field soon.

Payton took a somewhat ominous tone about the timeline Thursday.

“I think Caden’s got a road ahead of him relative to getting healthy,” Payton said. “… He’s pushing hard in his recovery and he’s getting healthy.”

Sterns tore his patella tendon on his second snap of the 2023 season in Denver’s opener against Las Vegas. He missed the rest of the year but in January said he hoped to be involved at least to some degree in the offseason program.

“When you know what you want to do and what your dream is, I’m going to give everything at it,” he said in January. “I’ve had some unlucky injuries, but I think it’s going to make a hell of a story and it’s nothing that I can’t come back from.”

Though the fourth-year man was in attendance and worked out on the side field, he didn’t do football-related activities in the practices open to reporters during OTAs and minicamp in May and June.

Now he’s also started training camp on the physically unable to perform list.

That leaves an inexperienced group behind likely starters Brandon Jones and P.J. Locke for the time being. Second-year safety JL Skinner broke up a pass and flashed a couple of times Thursday after Payton earlier this spring noted his strong work on the practice squad down the stretch in 2023.

The coach on Thursday expressed confidence overall in an untested group that also includes Devon Key, Tanner McCallister, Keidron Smith and Omar Brown.

“I like the way they’re playing,” he said.

Want more Broncos news? Sign up for the Broncos Insider to get all our NFL analysis.

Originally Published: July 25, 2024 at 1:56 p.m.