The Kansas City Chiefs will unveil their newest offensive weapon against the Denver Broncos on Monday Night Football: Running back Kenneth Walker, the reigning Super Bowl MVP and a player who is expected to be a catalyst for the Chiefs' run game revival.
And Broncos running back JK Dobbins can steal his thunder.
While Walker was considered one of the top prizes of 2026 NFL free agency, Dobbins was considered a risk-reward proposition...at best. Walker received a total of $28.7 million in guaranteed money from the Chiefs to come and revive their running game, while Dobbins only received $8 million in guarantees.
That's the difference between one guy finishing the season healthy and playing in the Super Bowl, and another guy going down with a season-ending injury after 10 weeks. Yet Dobbins has a chance on Monday night to not only steal Walker's thunder, but also prove the Broncos were right to pass on the high-priced options and bring him back in the first place.
JK Dobbins can prove the Broncos' risky decision to re-sign him was smart
When JK Dobbins suffered an injury in Week 10 against the Raiders last season, here is where he ranked among NFL running backs in a few major categories:
- Rushing yards: 772 (5th in the NFL)
- Carries: 153 (5th)
- Yards per carry: 5.0 (7th)
- Explosive runs of 10+ yards: 21 (T-4th)
- Games with at least 60 yards: 9 (T-1st)
Dobbins has become a very easy piece of the Denver Broncos' puzzle to dismiss because of his injury history, but it's important to remember the level of balance the offense was able to have when he was healthy.
As a team, the Broncos averaged 128.6 rushing yards per game when Dobbins was healthy, and that number dropped to 104.6 yards per game from Week 11 through the end of the season.
Both the Chiefs and the Broncos are going to be hoping for revived running games starting in the first week of the season, but Dobbins has been chomping at the bit since late last season to get back on the field. He was fighting to play in the AFC Championship Game, but the Broncos didn't want to risk his long-term future, even for such an important game.
Dobbins didn't play in the entire preseason. He vowed during training camp that he was going to play all 17 games this season.
He obviously wasn't the highest-paid running back in free agency, and he doesn't have the Super Bowl hardware Kenneth Walker now has. But Dobbins can steal the show in Week 1 with a dominating return to action. All of the talk this offseason has been about Walker rejuvenating a Chiefs' offense that was abysmal running the football last season.
He was one of only four backs in the NFL last season with 10 or more runs of 20-plus yards.
Over the last two years, the Chiefs RBs have run for 10+ yards less than 9% of the time--31st amongst 32 teams.
— Mina Kimes (@minakimes) March 9, 2026
Last season, Kenneth Walker had the 3rd highest 10+ yd rate of any RB.
Walker has a chance to give the Chiefs' offense something they've lacked for years now, but Dobbins getting the chance to pick up where he left off when he got hurt last season is his opportunity to prove the Broncos were right for prioritizing bringing him back.
The Broncos could have gone after Walker themselves. They could have gone after Travis Etienne. They could have done a lot of different things to address the position, but they put their faith in Dobbins.
It's almost poetic that his first game of the season is a head-to-head matchup against the biggest prize at his position in free agency.
It's easy to forget how good Dobbins was last season prior to his injury. It's easy to diminish the impact of his return in 2026 because of his injury history. But on the same stage as the reigning Super Bowl MVP, Dobbins can steal the show and make the Broncos look like geniuses in the process.
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