{"id":756227,"date":"2026-06-09T01:39:17","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T01:39:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/756227\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T01:39:17","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T01:39:17","slug":"broncos-j-k-dobbins-returned-to-denver-to-prove-sean-payton-right","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/756227\/","title":{"rendered":"Broncos’ J.K. Dobbins returned to Denver to prove Sean Payton right"},"content":{"rendered":"

J.K. was not OK.<\/a> He found himself bouncing back and forth a little in his head, between a contract offer from the Broncos, and one from another AFC contender.<\/a><\/p>\n

Only J\u2019Kaylin Dobbins wanted to be sure. He opened up his phone contacts. He thumbed through names. The bigger the decision, the smaller the circle of trust.<\/p>\n

Which is how Tony Alford woke up in early March to discover that Dobbins had called his cell at 3 in the morning, Ann Arbor time.<\/p>\n

Alford, Michigan\u2019s offensive run game coordinator since 2024,<\/a> was Dobbins\u2019 position coach at rival Ohio State. TA made a mental note; he\u2019d call his protege back later.<\/p>\n

Only a short while after that, Alford \u2014 a Doherty High grad and stalwart CSU Rams running back under Earle Bruce \u2014 happened to be looking at the television when J.K.\u2019s name crawled across the bottom of screen:<\/p>\n

Broncos re-sign Dobbins for two years, $16 million.<\/p>\n

Alford FaceTimed him.<\/p>\n

Bwoooop!<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat the hell?\u201d the coach asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cHey, I tried to call you,\u201d Dobbins explained. \u201cI wanted to get your opinion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dobbins told Alford that his 2026 choices were down to two. To Bronco, or not to Bronco?<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst of all, he loves Colorado. He loves Denver. He loves the organization,\u201d Alford told me by phone this week. \u201cI know he loves Sean Payton.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s so excited for the season and what\u2019s coming. I know he\u2019s talked a lot about this team, this organization as a whole and where it\u2019s headed. He\u2019s really excited about being there, what\u2019s coming.\u201d<\/p>\n

And about finishing what he started. The 27-year-old tailback was the Broncos\u2019 offensive MVP over the first 10 weeks of a wild, wacky 2025. He ran for 772 yards and scored five times before a Lisfranc injury against the Raiduhs on Nov. 6 ended a storybook start.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cHe moves around with a chip on his shoulder,\u201d Alford told me. \u201cI think the injuries have helped motivate him to get back. \u2018I got hurt, but watch how I come back.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was like that in college. He was even like that in high school. Whenever people may doubt him, he uses that as motivation. Whether some of that is true or not, he (sets) that in his own mind as if it\u2019s true.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut he does these things to motivate himself. And I know he wants to go back and be one of the best players in the league right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whether they can trust his health or not, the Broncos need him. Denver was 8-2 last fall when Dobbins suited up and 8-1 when he racked up at least 15 touches.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was a big part of our success a year ago,\u201d Payton told reporters last week when asked about Dobbins\u2019 health. \u201cI think certainly where we\u2019re at with that running back room today, we feel like is further along than maybe when we first got here (in 2023). So he\u2019s one of those compound multipliers. There\u2019s so much that he brings.\u201d<\/p>\n

Runner. Blocker. Receiver. Anchor. With a surgically repaired ankle, Bo Nix could use a lead dog to lean on during early downs and when staring at short yardage. Second-year tailback RJ Harvey was far more effective outside the hashmarks as a pass-catcher than he was pounding the rock between the tackles.<\/p>\n

\"J.K.J.K. Dobbins (27) of the Denver Broncos stretches during OTAs at the Broncos Park in Centennial on Thursday, June 4, 2026. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz\/The Denver Post)<\/p>\n

\u201c(Dobbins) needs them, too,\u201d Alford said. \u201cIt brings a lot of joy to my heart to hear that they need him and they want him. But I\u2019ve got to tell you, just knowing J.K. the way I know him, just hearing the lift in his voice, he needs them, too. He needs an organization that is truly invested in him and loves him. And he believes that Sean Payton does.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know that kid. And when he knows that people really want him, and they need him, and they want him, whatever adjective you want to have, that\u2019s motivation to get him to prove them right.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dobbins picks his friends and confidants the way a jeweler selects precious stones \u2014 he values long-term trust, the cut of a man\u2019s soul, over flash and fun.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was recruiting him (in Texas) and he had a couple of buddies \u00a0\u2026 and one day, I said, \u2018Where\u2019s so-and-so? I didn\u2019t see you (hanging around) with this guy anymore.\u2019 And he said, \u2018Coach, he\u2019s out.\u2019 This is when he was 17. He said this coming in (to Ohio State) and I\u2019ve never forgotten it \u2014 he said, \u2018If you\u2019re not 100% with me, you\u2019re 100% against me.’\u201d<\/p>\n

Last month, when Alford was in town recruiting for the Wolverines, he made a side trip over to Dobbins\u2019 place. What was supposed to be 30 minutes of catching up turned into two hours of orange-and-blue gushing.<\/p>\n

\u201cListen, the guy wants to win championships,\u201d Alford said. \u201cAnd he wants to be a valuable piece of that (there). And he knows that he can be and he feels that he can be. I don\u2019t want to speak for him, but that much, I know.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dobbins was so locked in toward showing the Broncos his commitment that he trained in Denver earier this year instead of heading south to far-flung workout hubs down in California or Texas.<\/p>\n

\u201cI need the people (in the organization) to know I\u2019m bought-in here,\u201d Dobbins told Alford. \u201cAnd that this is home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Consider them convinced.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe looks like a million bucks,\u201d Alford said. He laughed and corrected himself. \u201cOr, I should say, 16 million bucks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Want more sports news? Sign up for the Sports Omelette to get all our analysis on Denver\u2019s teams.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"J.K. was not OK. He found himself bouncing back and forth a little in his head, between a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":756228,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3781],"tags":[7,10148,2858,16370,10581,24813,301,2863,187,3943,3726,23121,165,1739,6324,6,9,302,16,43282,4098,8131,66,198,2098],"class_list":["post-756227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-denver-nuggets","tag-basketball","tag-bo-nix","tag-broncos","tag-broncos-takes","tag-chargers","tag-csu-rams","tag-denver","tag-denver-broncos","tag-denver-nuggets","tag-denvernuggets","tag-football","tag-las-vegas-raiders","tag-latest-headlines","tag-michigan","tag-more-broncos-news","tag-nba","tag-nfl","tag-nuggets","tag-ohio","tag-rj-harvey","tag-sean-keeler","tag-sean-payton","tag-sports","tag-sports-columnists","tag-texas"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116717601671966686","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/756227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=756227"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/756227\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/756228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=756227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=756227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=756227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}