The Denver Broncos might be set to field one of the most talented rosters in the history of the team, and while that could have been the case last year, things ended poorly. The NFL is a brutal business, as there was and is no guarantee of success.
Fortunately, the Broncos are positioned better than most squads to be a formidable club ahead of the 2026 season. This is especially awesome, as the NFL appears to be littered with parity. Given how well-built this organization is from the top down, Denver should be able to squeeze through much of this parity and be one of the final teams standing, as they were last year.
However, even with some big-time additions this offseason, like Jaylen Waddle, could this team's success primarily come down to one player, but not who you might think...?
Denver Broncos RB J.K. Dobbins could still be a massive 'what if' for the team in 2026
The story of J.K. Dobbins is a tough one to talk about, not because he's a bad player, but because he's an exceptional player who simply cannot stay on the field. The Broncos signed him in the middle of summer last offseason on a one-year deal, adding him to a room that also saw the departure of Javonte Williams, but, also, the addition of RJ Harvey.
As we saw, Dobbins got through the first 10 games of the 2025 season before suffering a season-ending foot injury thanks to an illegal hip-drop tackle. Across the first 10 games of the season, this is what Dobbins had done:
153 attempts
772 yards
4 touchdowns
5.0 yards per carry
Had Dobbins played all 17 games, this is the pace he was on:
260 attempts
1,312 yards
7 touchdowns
Had Dobbins finished with this exact stat line, he would have ranked 6th in rushing yards and tied for 8th in attempts. Furthermore, the Broncos were averaging 128.6 rushing yards per game across the 10 healthy Dobbins games. Had that kept up through the end of 2025, the team would have finished with 2,186 rushing yards, which would have ranked 7th in the NFL.
In the seven remaining regular season games without Dobbins, the Broncos averaged just 104.6 rushing yards per game, which is a 24-yard difference per game. But wait, there's even more.
Across the Broncos' first 10 games, the team was averaging 25.7 points per game. In the seven remaining games Dobbins was out, Denver averaged 23.7 points per game. No matter how you slice it, the Broncos were a much less efficient team when Dobbins was not in the lineup.
While this isn't the most shocking thing ever, it does continue to paint an obvious picture for 2026, even with Waddle in the lineup - this team needs Dobbins to stay healthy, and with the addition of Jonah Coleman, an ideal scenario might be to shave off a few carries from Dobbins workload, which could give him a better chance to make it through the season.
The NFL has seen a bit of a renaissance with the rushing game in recent years, and even though the Broncos have the infrastructure to be a top-tier passing offense, modern-day NFL offenses go as the running game goes.
Even if the Broncos only give Dobbins 10 carries per game, instead of the 15 per game they gave him in 2025, odds are, he'd stay healthy longer than he did last year. Given that he's not necessarily a huge receiving threat, and the Broncos already may have an elite pass-protector in Coleman, Dobbins could be deployed in a very deliberate way.
This current running back room could allow play-caller and offensive coordinator Davis Webb to put Dobbins in some ideal scenarios. Across his career, he's averaged 5.2 yards per carry, and has also averaged 12.4 attempts per game.
Even if Dobbins were to not hit the 1,000-yard mark in 2026, for example, there is a chance that he's still giving the Broncos a massive boost at the position. Averaging 10 carries per game on 5.2 yards per carry would work out to be 884 rushing yards across a 17-game season.
This could end up being where the Broncos hope to slot Dobbins in the pecking order, as this would still give Coleman and Harvey opportunities to thrive in their own roles, but it's pretty clear that this offense needs Dobbins to stay healthy, despite how loaded it is otherwise.
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