Broncos head coach Sean Payton said Wednesday that Williams will have a "big role" this Sunday against the Raiders, Zac Stevens of TheDNVR.com reports.
A busy Week 1 as Denver's lead back looked like a remote possibility for Williams back in the spring, but he's made a surprisingly smooth recovery from surgery to address ACL and LCL tears to his right knee, which he suffered last October. Fears that Williams may open the season on the PUP list have now morphed into hopes that he can deliver big-time production in September, though offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi acknowledged two weeks ago that the Broncos might start Williams off with something less than what eventually will be his full workload. Denver signed Samaje Perine this offseason to handle whatever snaps Williams can't take on -- and perhaps the lion's share of the snaps in obvious passing situations -- but thoughts of Perine being a locked-in fantasy starter for the first few weeks of the season have seemingly evaporated. It'll be interesting to see the workload split between Williams and Perine this Sunday, even that breakdown isn't necessarily indicative of how they'll share snaps and touches throughout the season.