At the end of another J.K. Dobbins scrum that charmed the masses, employed little filter and featured him smiling roughly 5,643 times, left tackle Garett Bolles wandered over with a request.
“I’m Garett Bolles, from K-Jazz 101,” Bolles said Thursday, posing as a reporter. “I’m just here to ask you a question about your Spanish. You’ve learned a lot of Spanish over the years, and I just — can you touch base on that, please?”
Dobbins smiled, a month after he charmed the masses by giving an all-Spanish postgame interview on ESPN Deportes. He bantered with his protector at left tackle. And he asked Bolles to give him one word. A single word of Spanish.
“¿Qué pasa, hombre, amigo?” Bolles responded, which translates roughly to What’s up, man friend? in English.
Dobbins doubled over and shrieked with laughter.
Any time Dobbins is mentioned in a news conference in Denver, Broncos head coach Sean Payton has uttered some version of the following: Denver knew what they were going to get on the field. They didn’t know they were getting, as Payton said Wednesday, “all this other stuff.” The personality, according to Payton, is infectious, beyond the success of a running back who ranks third in the league in rushing yards. And Broncos Country has rapidly become enamored with Dobbins.
On Thursday, Dobbins took the love up another notch.
“Far as extension and stuff like that, that doesn’t cross my mind,” Dobbins responded when asked about potentially re-upping with Denver. “But, me just wanting to be here in Denver — yes. I hope to end my career here and be here for the rest of my time in the NFL.”
Currently, Dobbins is playing on a one-year deal with a base value of $2.7 million. And Denver is quite fond of rookie second-round back RJ Harvey. But Dobbins made quite clear he wants to stay a Bronco.
“I don’t really think about that,” Dobbins said. “But, yeah, that would be nice. Because I want to be in Denver. I love it.
“I love the fanbase,” Dobbins continued, gushing. “I think the fanbase and I have a connection. Love my teammates. And I also love, I love Sean Payton. I love the owners.”
Dobbins has played 10 games just twice in five previous seasons in the NFL, and the Broncos appeared poised to slowly pass the torch from Dobbins to Harvey. Through eight games, though, Dobbins has shown no signs of slowing down. The breakaway burst may not be what it once was, but the vision remains. Dobbins racked up a season-high 111 rushing yards on 15 carries against a porous Cowboys defense last Sunday. He’s also held off Harvey for a true backfield timeshare, although the rookie had three touchdowns on just eight touches Sunday.
The division of playing time suggests the Broncos still trust Dobbins more as a pass protector. The veteran has 29 pass-blocking snaps to Harvey’s four this season. On Sunday, he lit up Cowboys safety Markquese Bell to give Bo Nix ample time to laser a 32-yard touchdown strike to Troy Franklin.
“He sticks his face in there,” Nix said of Dobbins. “He’s not a prima donna that is not worried about getting hit, or not wanting to protect, or just wanting the football. He just does whatever the team needs him to do.”
Dobbins sits at 5.3 yards a carry, and 216 rushing yards behind the Colts’ Jonathan Taylor for the NFL lead. It’s a distant gap. But Dobbins, the self-tubbed “El Toro,” is bullish on himself.
“I still want to be number one, ahead of those guys,” Dobbins said, complimenting Taylor and the Bills’ James Cook. “And I’m going to keep working every single week, no matter the task at hand. Like, there’s what, nine weeks left in the season, regular season? That’s nine weeks left for me to try to get that number-one spot. That’s how I look at it. And I’m gonna work my butt off to do it.”
Dobbins is 26 years old in a league where players at his position typically fall off the closer they get to their 30s. He has had multiple season-ending leg injuries. But he has now proven it on two straight prove-it deals, with the Chargers in 2024 and now in Denver. And Dobbins’ success has presented general manager George Paton with a rather complicated decision.
“I don’t think about the extension part,” Dobbins repeated on Thursday. “I just think about me being here. Because I love it. I love the beautiful mountains.”
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