The Denver Broncos know they need to get off to a faster start in 2025 than we've seen in the past couple of years. The Broncos tried to play catch-up after starting 0-3 in the 2023 season, and they couldn't finish an improbable late-season comeback. They did manage to make the playoffs after starting 0-2 in the 2024 season, but it also came down to the wire in Week 18 against the Chiefs' backups.
The Broncos have four games to open the season against AFC opponents (TItans, Colts, Chargers, Bengals). They have a chance to get two very important AFC wins right out of the gates against teams with rough quarterback situations, and those are opportunities they really can't afford to squander.
Which player has a chance to really turn Week 1 on its head? It's a player none of us has really gotten any chance to see yet as a Broncos starter, and that's free agent running back JK Dobbins.
JK Dobbins will be crucial for Broncos dominating in Week 1
The Broncos are one of the biggest Week 1 favorites around the league, favored by 7.5 points (Eagles the other). They are expected to dominate against a Titans team that is breaking in a rookie quarterback with one of the older rosters in the league, but regardless of what the Titans did last year, they're still going to be tough in Week 1.
The Broncos have to dominate on the ground, and JK Dobbins will be crucial for that. He was in the top 10 among all starting running backs last season in yards after contact per rushing attempt as well as broken tackles overall. Dobbins has the ability to bring some juice back to the running game in Denver, along with rookie RJ Harvey, but Dobbins is the one we really don't know much of anything about at this stage.
We have seen what Dobbins can do with the Chargers. We know how tough and physical he is as a back. He's so difficult to bring down on initial contact, and that's one of the reasons why he has a chance to be such an upgrade for this offense in Denver. The Broncos' run blocking was not overly impressive in the preseason, but we also never really saw them settle in or gameplan, in general.
What can this running game be with a healthy JK Dobbins? How can Dobbins fare behind a line that has been among the best in the league the past two seasons in run block win rate?
Not that Dobbins is going to be the reason why the Broncos win in Week 1, but he could prove to be the missing piece of a puzzle offensively that has been borderline impossible to figure out. If Dobbins can unlock the Broncos' running game in Week 1, it opens up a library of possibilities for the offense throughout the duration of the season.