Jeff Legwold, ESPN Senior Writer 4y

Broncos' Phillip Lindsay may seek pass-catching advice from Christian McCaffrey

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. -- Denver Broncos running back Phillip Lindsay has a couple football priorities this offseason.

One is to "just to get healed up," but the other is "to work on my routes, really get that down, I mean, that could be big."

It could indeed. Lindsay had a surgical procedure on his wrist in recent weeks, which will impact his plan, but with Pat Shurmur's arrival as offensive coordinator, Lindsay will have chances to get more work in the passing game next season.

It's something Lindsay has thought about expanding over the last few months, saying he might even turn to fellow Denver-area native Christian McCaffrey for some help.

"I'll get with a couple people, a couple running backs, honestly," Lindsay said at season's end. "Maybe Christian, maybe even Theo [Riddick] if Theo's healthy. He's honestly one of the best route runners I've seen in the NFL. ... It's about repetition. I might go work with [49ers wide receiver] Emmanuel [Sanders], really get into detail."

History says any and all of that will be time well spent for Lindsay. In Shurmur's previous 11 seasons as an NFL offensive coordinator or head coach, he has had a running back top 50 receptions seven times. Lindsay had 35 catches in each of his first two seasons.

In the past two seasons, when Schumur's Giants were thin at wide receiver, New York running back Saquon Barkley had 91 and 52 receptions, respectively.

Barkley, Jerick McKinnon, Darren Sproles, LeSean McCoy and Steven Jackson have each had at least one 50-reception season with Shurmur overseeing the offense. That will be music to Lindsay's ears.

"I just want to do whatever we need to do to win games," Lindsay said. "Because at the end of the day it's about winning games, going to the playoffs. And I want to work on everything, get better at everything, but I know I can get better running routes, catching the ball."

Lindsay and fellow running back Royce Freeman were active in the Broncos' passing game with Rich Scangarello calling plays. They were two of the five Broncos players to finish with at least 30 catches on the year.

Before he was replaced by Shurmur, Scangarello said last month that Lindsay's explosiveness was something the Broncos had to find a way to maximize without overworking the 190-pounder, offering "he's tough, he's physical. ... It matters, he's a leader and we can certainly get better at putting him in a position to be the most successful."

Lindsay figures to catch the ball more in Shurmur's offense, but the Broncos will be looking to pump up the impact of those catches as well. Lindsay averaged 5.6 yards per catch but has just one receiving touchdown combined in his two seasons.

"I'll put the work in," Lindsay said. "It's just the repetition, doing it over and over again, getting better, being where [quarterback] Drew [Lock] expects me to be and being that reliable guy, getting separation, making plays. Whatever we need to do to finish drives with touchdowns more times, that's the key. We make some of those field goal drives into touchdown drives and who knows, we play in the playoffs and it's wide open."

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