NOVEMBER 14: Dobbins is dealing with a “significant” injury that will sideline him for “the foreseeable future,” per Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero of NFL Network. He and the Broncos are still evaluating their options, but an IR placement seems more likely in the wake of the most recent news.
NOVEMBER 11: Broncos running back J.K. Dobbins suffered a foot injury in last Thursday’s win over the Raiders that could land him on injured reserve.
Denver is considering placing Dobbins on IR, per Chris Tomasson of the Denver Gazette, which would sidelined him for the next four games. The Broncos have a bye in Week 12, so Dobbins’ earliest return would come in Week 16.
Dobbins hurt his foot on a hip drop tackle by a Raiders defender, though the play was not flagged. He left the game with about 4:30 remaining in the third quarter with rookie RJ Harvey handling the remaining carries. Dobbins seems poised to miss some time, even if he does not land on IR, so Harvey could see a major uptick in work after producing a number of explosive plays in recent weeks. Depth running backs Tyler Badie and Jaleel McLaughlin should also see a few more opportunities with Dobbins sidelined.
This would be Dobbins’ fifth stint on injured reserve since entering the league as a Ravens second-round pick in 2020. He suffered a torn ACL before his second season, a knee injury the following year, and a torn Achilles at the beginning of the 2023 season. He signed with the Chargers during the 2024 offseason and suffered an MCL sprain in November that sidelined him until late December.
Dobbins has been hit with the ‘injury-prone’ tag since his time in Baltimore, and this latest injury will continue that perception. He expressed interest in an extension with the Broncos, but will likely need to prove he can stay healthy for him to receive a multi-year commitment in Denver or anywhere else.
Problem for Denver is that, for some reason, all of their other backs are smaller-or at least, not power runners. Dobbins himself isn’t exactly that, but he can definitely do it the best of their collection. To be honest, Payton’s drafting of Harvey with Badie and McLaughlin already on the roster seemed redundant role-wise (it seems that, if Harvey was the best choice, then one of the others could have been exchanged for a bigger back). McLaughlin hasn’t seen many snaps, and Estime (who was drafted to be that bigger back) is in New Orleans after his fumbling issues.
If McLaughlin was going to be reduced to a fourth string depth player, perhaps Denver could have traded or released him for a bigger back that could play a different role than the other three backs. Right now, it seems like the fullback Prentice would be the inside option on short yardage or power plays.
I get that he doesn’t use them as much, but I’ve never understood why Payton is so averse to at least having a bigger back as an option to go with the two or three scat backs that he usually carries; of course, he’s won a Super Bowl and is likely going to the Hall of Fame with that approach, so his results speak for themselves. Jettisoning Williams and Estime each happened for different reasons, but even with that and Payton’s obvious resume considered, I still couldn’t help but think that just one bigger, inside back would be a balanced depth option than a third athletic scatback in McLaughlin at the low end of the depth chart.
Perhaps Payton’s wife told him “size doesn’t matter” 🙂
I was pondering if he’s approaching the record for most career injured reserve placements, but I would bet Jason Verrett has that record.