Broncos running back J.K. Dobbins pushes back on injury-prone label

Matt Sullivan

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Broncos running back J.K. Dobbins pushes back on injury-prone label image

The Denver Broncos have a new-look running back room after a 2024 season marred by mediocre running back play. While they drafted RJ Harvey in the second round of the 2025 NFL Draft, the Broncos' mid-summer pickup has led the team out of the backfield.

J.K. Dobbins has been a massive addition to the Broncos' offense, and he's been leading the charge for Denver, putting up strong numbers week in and week out.

But the 26-year-old running back has dealt with injuries in his career, causing some to call him injury-prone. Dobbins, when asked about such a label, strongly pushed back, emphasizing that his injuries shouldn't make him "injury prone."

Broncos' J.K. Dobbins pushes back on injury-prone label

Andrew Mason of Denver Sports 104.3 shared Dobbins' comments on being labeled as injury-prone. The veteran journeyman running back shut down those concerns, explaining why he shouldn't have such a label ascribed to his name.

"Well, see, people say I have injury issues, but I don't," Dobbins said. "I've had two major injuries. That's it. It's not like I'm rolling ankles or -- it's not like I'm injury prone. It's just the injuries that I've had have been unfortunate. ... There are two. That's only two, though. Injury-prone is like, 'Oh, you got this injury, that injury, that injury, that injury.' No, it's only two injuries, literally. And one took two years because it was my whole knee that got blown off."

While a brutal encapsulation of his knee injury with the Baltimore Ravens that sidelined him for the entire 2021 season and most of the 2022 season, his overarching point is solid.

Dobbins, while he's suffered a few brutal injuries, it's not like he's popping up on the injury report every week as he deals with some new injury or ailment. He's just had bad luck twice in his NFL career that forced him to miss significant time.

From 2021 to 2023, before landing with the Los Angeles Chargers, Dobbins played in just nine games across three seasons. The injuries he sustained were brutally unlucky, forcing him to miss key time in the NFL.

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When healthy, as seen by his 442 rushing yards in six games this season, Dobbins is a great running back. Last year for the Chargers, he ran for 905 yards and nine touchdowns in 13 games.

While he did miss time, Dobbins still played the majority of the year at a high level. He's never played an entire NFL season, but that's far from an easy task for any player, let alone a running back who's constantly getting hit every game.

Dobbins is pushing back on his injury-prone label, and while he's missed 49 games to his 47 played, a lot of those absences can be attributed to two major injuries.

He dealt with a hamstring tear, a knee LCL tear, a knee meniscus trim, and an ACL tear in 2021. In 2023, Dobbins dealt with an Achilles tear. In 2024, he missed some time with an MCL sprain, but came back a month later for the Chargers.

Dobbins has had some brutal injury luck in his career, and he's trying to explain that bad luck as the basis for his missed time, rather than the injury-prone label describing his career.

So far this season, he's played every game for the Broncos and hasn't shown any signs of slowing down. He's had some incredible weeks so far this season, including a 101-yard performance against the Cincinnati Bengals, marking the seventh time he's reached 100 yards rushing in a game in his career.

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Matt Sullivan

Matt Sullivan is a freelance writer for The Sporting News, predominantly covering MLB. Matt is a native of Pennsylvania and has worked with Athlon Sports, Last Word on Sports, and other outlets.