The Denver Broncos needed a safety net at running back in 2025. Just in case rookie second round pick RJ Harvey wasn’t what they thought he’d be. That’s why they signed veteran J.K. Dobbins.
Through the first part of the season, as Harvey learned the ropes, they needed Dobbins.
By the time Dobbins suffered a season-ending foot injury in Week 10 against the Las Vegas Raiders — on an illegal, hip-drop tackle by Tyree Wilson — Harvey was already coming into his own.
With Dobbins on a 1-year, $2.065 million contract with the Broncos in 2025, Bleacher Report’s Alex Kay predicts Dobbins impressed enough in his short time in Denver that other teams will come calling in free agency.
Specifically, Kay thinks Dobbins will be the second consecutive Broncos running back to leave for the Dallas Cowboys in as many years following Javonte Williams, who left the Broncos and cracked 1,000 rushing yards for the first time in his career in 2025.
“Dobbins will be well worth rolling the dice on for a cash-strapped club like the Dallas Cowboys,” Kay wrote on Tuesday, December 30. “The team could be priced out of retaining Javonte Williams and will want to make up that lost production by coming to terms on a cheap, incentive-laden deal with Dobbins.”
Dobbins Could Land Big Payday as Free Agent
Dobbins was impressive enough with the Broncos that the Cowboys might not be able to afford him. He was on track for a career year with 772 rushing yards and 4 touchdowns through 10 games while averaging 5.0 yards per carry.
Spotrac currently projects Dobbins’ market value as a 2-year, $18.7 million contract, which seems like a wild overpay but this is the NFL. These are not people known for making rational decisions.
“With Dobbins missing multiple games in all six of his NFL seasons — including all of the 2021 campaign and almost all of 2023 — it’ll be tough for him to earn any sort of long-term deal from a club,” Kay wrote. “He’s had to settle for one-year agreements in back-to-back seasons and will likely need to again in 2026 despite playing in a majority of his teams’ games over the past two years and offering quality contributions when healthy.”
Harvey Has Been Revelation as Rookie
With the Broncos sitting at 13-3 and able to clinch the No. 1 seed in the AFC Playoffs with a win over the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 18, it’s hard to look at Harvey’s rookie season as anything but a resounding success.
With Harvey, 5-foot-8 and 205 pounds, the Broncos may have found the backfield mate to Bo Nix for the foreseeable future. Through 16 games and just 7 starts, Dobbins has 863 yards of total offense split pretty evenly between rushing and receiving to go with an eye-popping 12 touchdowns (7 rushing, 5 receiving).
Harvey is only the sixth rookie running back in NFL history to have at least 5 rushing and 5 receiving touchdowns in a single season.
“RJ Harvey is going to be a consistently good RB in the NFL for the next 4-6 years,” Dumb White Guy wrote on X. “I’m not saying the Broncos got a perennial Pro Bowl player but he’s solid … I like the way he plays.”
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