The Denver Broncos have legitimately not done a single thing well on offense this year. After four games, it feels rather insane to think that this team is 2-2 and has beaten Jacksonville and the Los Angeles Rams.
Fortunately, the Broncos six-game gauntlet to begin the 2026 season is about over, and their Week 5 matchup against the Los Angeles Chargers looks a lot easier now than it did before the season started.
But with the Chargers being a divisional game, it could be closer than we'd want it to be. One huge piece of the offense that could begin to turn things around is making more of an emphasis to get the run game going, and to do that, it might be time to give second-year running back RJ Harvey a chance to supercharge the offense.
Denver Broncos need to give RJ Harvey more of a true RB1 workload in Week 5 and maybe beyond
The Broncos are going to be without rookie RB Jonah Coleman untill October 25th, at least, but even with a healthy Coleman, Harvey might be the guy that this team needs to lean on. Harvey has just 12 carries on the season, which is significantly less than J.K. Dobbins' 46.
He's amassed 49 yards on those 12 carries for a respectable 4.1 yards per tote. Coleman amassed 10 carries in his two games for 39 yards. Harvey has 181 scrimmage yards through four games on 32 total touches as well.
He's averaging a healthy 5.7 yards per touch, which is higher than Dobbins' 3.6 yards per touch and Coleman's 4.5 yards per touch. Yes, it's still early in the season, but the current hierarchy at the running back position just is not working out. Dobbins' 49 touches through four games just has not brought the production that this team needs. Harvey having 17 fewer touches just does not make sense given how much more efficient he's been.
Furthermore, the Broncos run game has been among the worst in football. The Broncos average just 81.3 yards per game, which is the 4th-worst mark in the sport. The 3.6 yards per carry they are averaging as a team is the 5th-worst mark in the NFL.
Put simply, relying on Dobbins as the de-facto RB1 is not working out, and with Harvey very clearly being the most explosive player in this room and likely having the highest ceiling in the room, I don't see how it could hurt to give Harvey more touches.
As good as Dobbins was in the 10 games he played last year, the regression thus far in 2026 is a massive disappointment, and we have seen this front office make a good bit of change in this room.
On paper, when healthy, the Broncos might have one of the best running back rooms in football, at least in terms of skillsets and overall depth. It does present a problem of wanting to get the three top guys touches, as all three can be productive, but that doesn't mean the team can't rely on one more than the others.
For the sake of getting this offense going, what the Broncos are doing at the moment is not working. The team should thrust Harvey into that 1A role out of the backfield. He has been the most efficient RB this year for the team, and he should be given more opportunity until he proves he cannot handle it.
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