The Denver Broncos running back room has been totally remade over the past two offseasons. While there are still some familiar faces, like backup Jaleel McLaughlin, the primary contributors have been changed up since Sean Payton arrived.
Denver is now in a position to potentially field the most efficient running back room in the Payton era, as the team's projected top contributors have all been brought on over the last year and show that the front office clearly wants to get this unit on the right track.
All of J.K. Dobbins, RJ Harvey, and Jonah Coleman figure to get nearly 100 percent of the work in the backfield for the Broncos for 2026, at least, and for Dobbins, the Broncos selecting Coleman in Round 4 of the 2026 NFL Draft might end up being the best thing for his career.
Denver Broncos RB J.K. Dobbins could be in the most ideal spot of his NFL career after the Jonah Coleman pick
The career of Dobbins is well-documented at this point. Enduring some crazy unfortunate injury luck, Dobbins has not been able to put a full 16 or 17-game season together since being drafted back in 2020 out of Ohio State.
However, he's consistently one of the most efficient running backs in the NFL when he's on the field. He's averaged 5.2 yards per carry and 64.3 yards per game over his career, and his 17-game averages come out to 1,094 yards and nine touchdowns.
Still just 27, Dobbins clearly still has some solid years left in the tank, but it's very likely that if he wants to stay on the field for a full season, he'll have to begin embracing more of a legitimate 1A role on offense.
That was kind of the gist with Harvey in the mix last year, as many looked at Dobbins as being the "1A" running back, and Harvey as the "1B" option. However, Harvey's inefficiencies on the ground were quite obvious, and when Dobbins went down in Week 10, the running back room was turned upside down.
Now that Dobbins is healthy, Harvey is in year two, and Coleman is in the mix, we could see the most efficient and healthiest version of Dobbins in his career. Last year for the Broncos, Dobbins averaged 15.3 attempts per game, which was the highest mark of his career. He had two other seasons of double-digit rushing attempts per game.
It's not likely that the Broncos give Dobbins the ball 15 times per game. In fact, he might be a lot closer to 10 carries per game. Taking some of those carries and giving them to Coleman, for example, would logically keep Dobbins fresher and reduce his chances of getting hurt.
The former Los Angeles Charger and Baltimore Ravens is absolutely 'good enough' to run for 1,000 yards in a season, but he'd have to carry the ball a good bit for that. He's not a bell-cow at this stage anymore, and given that Denver couldn't really do the 1A/1B thing last year, Dobbins wasn't able to stay on the field for a full season.
Another huge benefit here, especially if Coleman can be an efficient runner, is that the entire offense would be elevated. Having multiple efficient running backs would only make life easier for the passing game, as defenses would have to begin stacking the box to stop the run.
A hypothetical rushing attack featuring Dobbins around 10 carries per game, and both Coleman and Harvey also getting a few here and there, could truly be the best-case scenario for the veteran. Given how efficient Dobbins was on the ground for 10 games in 2025, I'm sure the coaches would love to ride with Dobbins until the wheels fall off.
But the Broncos could have a Super Bowl-caliber team in 2026, and being smarter with the running back pecking order could benefit Denver in the long run. Dobbins now having two younger players sharing the room with him could end up being the best thing he'd had in his career.
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