ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Don’t call Broncos running back J.K. Dobbins injury-prone. Or injury-riddled, or anything like that.
Even though he’s missed more games in his star-crossed NFL career than he’s played so far: 47 games played — including postseason, and 49 games missed.
“Well, see, people say I have injury issues, but I don’t. I’ve had two major injuries. That’s it,” the Broncos’ leading rusher so far in the 2025 season said Thursday afternoon a few steps away from the locker room.
“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. They’re God-given, actually, because, like, a torn knee, I can’t help that. Like, I can’t help that. And then a torn Achilles. That’s something I can’t control either.”
The knee injury he suffered in the 2021 preseason lingered into 2022, sending him to injured reserve after he returned that season; he missed nine games as a result.
Then came the Achilles tear in Week 1 of 2023 after Dobbins had worked his way back.
“I don’t go out there afraid of that,” he said. “Those were just 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. So, I wouldn’t say that I have issues with that.”
SO FAR, SO GOOD FOR DOBBINS AS A BRONCO
The key for Dobbins is to proceed without thinking about the risk of another major injury.
To do that, he leans on his religious faith — and a willingness to take risks.
“‘Cause I know God got me, one and then two, I’m like, I’m a guy that — I’m sending everything,” he said. “I’m a type of guy like, you go on vacation, I’m jumping off the top of the boat. I’m jumping off the cliff. Like, I ain’t got fear, ’cause I know God got me.
‘So, those [injuries] happen. That’s in the past. Last year, I had a thousand total yards after [the torn] Achilles. So, there’s obviously something bigger working with me here.
“… If I sat there and sulked about, ‘Damn, that’s so unfortunate. Nobody else is getting the injury, the two injuries.’ Nah, I’m like, ‘All right, that happened. Let’s get past it. Like, I ain’t gonna let it stop me, you know?’ Cause if I did, then I wouldn’t be here.”
And “here” is a nice spot to be: eighth in the NFL in rushing yardage per game and rushing first downs, 12th among 42 running backs with at least 42 attempts in average per carry, with 4.9 yards per attempt. He has the Broncos’ first 100-yard rushing game in the Sean Payton era. Until last Sunday in London, he’d averaged at least 4.0 yards per attempt in four-consecutive games.
His productivity is a massive reason why the Broncos’ ground game has become a trustworthy component of the offense in a way it wasn’t in the previous two seasons. Denver ranks seventh in rushing yardage per game, and only six teams get a higher percentage of their yardage on the ground.
Dobbins is a huge reason why.
“And, if you think about it, I don’t think many people could still play at the level that I’m playing at now if they’ve had those two [injuries],” he said.
Oh, and that afore-mentioned stat about missing more games than he’s played? Well, if Dobbins can play the next three games, he’ll be on the happy side of that ledger for the first time since Oct. 16, 2022, when he played the 21st game of his career — including postseason — against 20 games missed to that point.
The last time Dobbins was merely break-even in that? Sept. 10, 2023: the day he tore his Achilles tendon in the third quarter of a win over Houston. He missed the next 18 games.
It would be nice if Dobbins could have that off his biography.
