Danny Woodhead makes his return

The 8-yard touchdown run was nice.

But more than anything, San Diego Chargers running back Danny Woodhead appreciated being healthy and out on the field with his teammates on Thursday in his team’s exhibition opener against the Dallas Cowboys.

Woodhead had not been in a game since suffering a broken ankle in a Week 3 contest at Buffalo, which ended his 2014 season. Woodhead scored the first touchdown of the game for the Chargers against the Cowboys on an 8-yard draw up the middle.

Woodhead only carried the ball once and was in Thursday’s game for a total of three plays, so it’s clear the Chargers want to ease him into live games. However, Woodhead appears to have the same explosion he showed two years ago, when he finished with over 1,000 yards from scrimmage and eight total touchdowns, the story said. Woodhead could be huge in the Chargers passing game with rookie Melvin Gordon likely getting the early down work. Rookies often struggle in pass protection which means Woodhead should return to having PPR value.