The Denver Broncos are done with the preseason in 2025, but this key free agent addition hardly played. Perhaps this is not odd at all, and I am again overreacting, but given his NFL history, it would have made a lot of sense for him to get way more action.
Denver went out in free agency later on and signed JK Dobbins to a one-year deal. Dobbins had played the 2024 NFL Season with the Los Angeles Chargers and ran for over 900 yards and nine touchdowns on a solid 4.6 yards per carry.
Anyway, the main issue with Dobbins has been his lengthy injury history, and it's really thrown off what could have been a prolific NFL career, as he has averaged over five yards per carry across his career. Well, you would have thought that JK Dobbins would have received a handful of carries to get a bit seasoned up before the regular season, right?
JK Dobbins did not get a single carry in the Denver Broncos' preseason
Sure, the Denver Broncos might want to save him for the season, as they might think it's only a matter of time before he gets hurt, but Sean Payton clearly believes in playing his starters, and we just did not see much from Dobbins. He was in on some third downs, but that's about it.
The Broncos' run game also didn't really get going that much when the starting unit was out there. It took until some of the backups came in that the run game got going. While many of us are (rightfully) a bit concerned about the run game at the moment, JK Dobbins not carrying the ball could have contributed to that.
He is a very talented running back and does profile as a RB1 for the Denver Broncos. But again, doesn't it seem a bit weird that Dobbins didn't get one single carry? Another argument as to why he didn't get one is perhaps that the coaching staff knows that Dobbins is going to come in and produce like he has, so maybe they did not feel the need to expose him to unnecessary hits, but I keep circling back to Sean Payton having a very strong track record of playing his starters.
I am high on the team's backfield for the 2025 NFL Season, and if JK Dobbins does stay healthy, no one is going to remember the preseason.