Can J.K. Dobbins deliver in fantasy as Denver's RB1?

Yahoo

11-08-2025

Yahoo Fantasy analysts Justin Boone and Scott Pianowski look at Denver's revamped backfield and explain why the Broncos veteran can be an early-season fantasy starter in 2025. Hear the full conversation on the 'Yahoo Fantasy Forecast' podcast - and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen.
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Video Transcript
I'm going to mention a running back, and it is J.K. Dobbins.
And I know the whole thing.
There was a tweet yesterday from Ben Albright, and some people got bothered by it.
I don't really know why.
I didn't think what he said was that crazy.
I've been saying something similar ever since Dobbins signed there.
It really seemed like, and they mentioned this, they planned to bring him in.
This wasn't something that happened kind of haphazardly over the summer.
They had been talking to him.
They had wanted to have him in and join the team, and they got that done.
So I feel like he was always part of the plan there, and it makes a lot of sense, right?
They don't have a ton of depth guys that they could trust.
They have R.J. Harvey, who's certainly a very interesting rookie that people are excited about.
I'm excited about him too, but I think it might take a little longer for him to become the player that fantasy managers want him to be.
And Dobbins can step in as a veteran who they can trust in pass protection.
He can be that guy, which is an area that Harvey is apparently struggling with.
And I hate to call people injury prone, but you know, Dobbins is probably the closest thing to injury prone that's out there, and I think that is going to get him again this season.
It's just, it's the most likely outcome, right?
We're playing a game of probabilities, and when you see a guy every single year end up getting hurt and missing time and tend to miss a bunch of time.
I think it's probably going to happen again in Denver, but you have a guy that came out last season and showed us he still has juice.
He was the RB14 in fantasy points per game through the first 11 weeks last year before those injuries derailed his season.
I did that with the Chargers.
Now he's in the Sean Payton backfield, and Sean Payton backfields tend to be pretty productive for fantasy, especially when the team is good.
I think this Broncos team is solid.
The defense is really strong.
One of the best offensive lines in the league.
Could we see Dobbins, Harvey, you know, they're not the exact same kind of players, but could we see this tandem be kind of like the Ingram-Kamara situation?
I think we could.
I think it could be something like that where Dobbins comes out, he's the lead back, and then we see Harvey kind of establish himself more and more.
And if that inevitable injury does come for JK Dobbins, that's when Harvey would take over.
That's when Harvey could step up and maybe help people win their fantasy leagues down the stretch.
But at the beginning of the year to get Dobbins, the potential number one back on a good offense, on a good team to get him this late in drafts.
It's the kind of production I'm more than willing to take if I can get it for half a season, if I can get it for 4 weeks, 5 weeks, 6 weeks, I will take that in the 10th round and then I'll figure it out after that because you're not drafting him here to necessarily be your starter, and yet he might be one of your starters at the beginning of the season.
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