Denver Broncos running back J.K. Dobbins was elite when he was healthy last season.
There was a lot of disappointment surrounding free agency this year for Broncos fans. They didn’t sign a single free agent from outside the franchise.
And running back was a position that could’ve been upgraded. But the good news is Dobbins was great before he was injured.
Denver Broncos J.K. Dobbins was an elite running back
For a little over the first half of the 2025 season, the Broncos running game was among the best in the league.
That’s because Dobbins was running hard in between the tackles while rookie R.J. Harvey ran explosively outside and caught a lot of passes.
It was a fantastic one-two punch.
Then, Dobbins went down with a lisfranc foot injury in Week 10. That left just Harvey by himself, along with backup back Jaleel McLaughlin.
The team averaged 128.6 rushing yards per game before the injury. After, they averaged only 104.6 rush yards per contest. It was a significant drop off.
And that lack of production can be tied to multiple metrics that made Dobbins an elite back last year.
Avoided Tackle Rate
Dobbins was top-10 in avoided tackle rate last season.
His 24.8% of runs in which he avoided a tackle were ninth-most in the NFL.
Bill Croskey-Merritt was top 5 in avoided tackle rate in 2025.The Commanders went away from him in the 2nd half of last season, but maybe there's something there?Source: @ftnfantasy.com
— Scott Spratt (@scottspratt.bsky.social) 2026-03-12T14:54:40.950Z
Avoided tackles accounts for broken tackles as well as things like jukes where the running back wasn’t contacted but still made a defender miss.
According to Fantasy Pros, he had 9 broken tackles, which means there were another 29 plays where he made a defender miss for 38 total.
He’s a decent power back, but he’s also slippery enough to make guys miss and gain extra yards.
Yards Per Attempt
Over the course of the 10 games he played, Dobbins averaged an elite 5.0 yards per attempt. That’s the old standby as a measuring stick for running backs, and it still holds true in 2026.
Dobbins’ 5.0 YPA average was 8th-best, tied with Jahmyr Gibbs. The league average was 4.4 YPA, so he easily cleared that, and Harvey’s average was 3.7.
Success Rate
The stellar statistics continue for Dobbins in success rate.
His success rate was 53.6%, which was 16th-best. The league average was only 49.6%, meaning Dobbins had successful runs 4% of the time more than an average back.
What is success rate? It’s a way of measuring how well a back does on a given down. A successful run on first down means gaining four-plus yards. On second, it’s gaining 60% of remaining yards. And on third down, it means gaining a first down.
Another way to think of it is staying ahead of the sticks. Which sets the offense up for success.
Explosive Run Rate
Dobbins had 21 explosive runs of 10-plus yards last year. That alone is good for 23rd among all backs. But consider he only had 153 attempts.
So, if we look at how often he earns an explosive run it’s 13.7%. That was fifth-best.
Devon Achane led the league with 40 explosive runs, and his rate of 16.8% was the best in the league, too. Only Achane, Kenneth Walker (14.9%), Blake Corum (15.9%), and Jordan Mason (13.8%) had a higher rate of explosives.
Can Dobbins Stay Healthy?
All of these stats are based on how many attempts he had, which was about half as much as the best backs in the league like Jonathan Taylor, Derrick Henry, and James Cook, who all rushed 300-plus times last year.
Even by staying healthy for an entire season, Dobbins wouldn’t likely hit 300 carries. Sean Payton likes to mix and match his running backs’ usages. But the hope is Dobbins could keep those averages up even with more carries. If so, he’d eclipse 1,000 yards for the first time in his career and be among the best running backs in the league.
Denver desperately hopes he can finally stay healthy for a complete season. The most games he’s played in a season were 13 in 2024.
While the Broncos tried to trade for David Montgomery and then tried to sign Travis Etienne, they stayed pat with Dobbins and Co. They’re running it back in 2026. Let’s hope it pays off for them.