- Injury challenges outlined J.Ok. Dobbins: Dobbins has confronted a rollercoaster of a profession marked by vital accidents, notably ACL, LCL, and Achilles tears, but when wholesome, he has demonstrated high-end dashing capacity.
- Denver Broncos‘ backfield uncertainty: His 2025 fantasy worth hinges on securing a constant function in a crowded backfield underneath Sean Payton’s system, which traditionally makes use of a number of working backs.
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Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes
PFF’s Fantasy Football Player Profile collection delivers probably the most in-depth fantasy soccer evaluation out there for the 2025 season.
Using PFF’s unique knowledge, we consider participant efficiency, competitors for touches and the way teammates and training staffs
Last up to date: 7:15 a.m. Sunday, June 22
Player efficiency
J.Ok. Dobbins was a second-round choose by the Baltimore Ravens in 2020. He joined a three-man rotation with Gus Edwards and Mark Ingram III. While Ingram was the veteran starter, he was phased out of the offense because the season progressed, which included lacking a while resulting from harm and COVID. Dobbins performed lower than 50% of Baltimore’s offensive snaps over the season however averaged 6.0 yards per carry. From Week 11 to the top of the season, he scored a minimum of one landing in every sport. He averaged 17.0 fantasy factors per sport throughout that stretch, eleventh amongst working backs.
Dobbins suffered an ACL and LCL tear earlier than the 2021 season, inflicting him to overlook all the yr and the primary two video games of 2022. He performed from Weeks 3-6, sharing the backfield with Edwards, however he wasn’t almost as efficient. He was held underneath 44 dashing yards every week and three.3 yards per carry or worse in three of 4 video games.
He injured the identical knee as final season in Week 6, inflicting him to overlook the next six video games. He performed from Weeks 14-17, reaching significantly better outcomes, as he ran the ball 57 instances for 397 yards at 7.0 yards per carry. He by no means performed greater than 50% of the snaps in any sport throughout the yr. Dobbins’ harm luck didn’t enhance in 2023, as an Achilles tear in Week 1 price him all the season.
The Ravens selected to improve at working again with Derrick Henry throughout the 2024 offseason, so each Dobbins and Edwards adopted their former offensive coordinator, Greg Roman, to the Los Angeles Chargers. Dobbins was Edwards’ backup in Week 1, however he ran 10 instances for 135 yards and a landing. He began the next week and ran 17 instances for 131 yards and one other rating. While he was the league’s fourth-highest scoring fantasy again at the moment, he proceeded to realize 3.8 yards per carry or much less in 5 straight video games.
He had two video games with two touchdowns every in November however then an MCL harm price him 4 video games. Dobbins returned for the final two video games of the season and the playoff loss, however he didn’t exceed 4.0 yards per carry in any of these video games. Dobbins’ ups and downs left him with 14.8 fantasy factors per sport, the very best mark for his profession and 18th amongst working backs on the season.
Dobbins’ 69.6 dashing yards per sport ranked tenth amongst working backs final season. While he didn’t have a excessive price of 15 or extra yard carries, he averaged 0.31 30-yard runs per sport, fourth amongst working backs. His sport continues to be constructed on lengthy runs, whatever the scenario. While he has loads of expertise enjoying on passing downs in each his time in Baltimore and Los Angeles, he’s by no means put up noteworthy receiving numbers.
Projected function
Dobbins’ function has modified each season of his profession. In his rookie season, he was totally on third downs and two-minute drills, whereas Edwards was the early-down again. In 2022, Dobbins performed extra on early downs whereas Justice Hill performed on third downs. With the Los Angeles Chargers, he performed lots in each scenario.
The Chargers opted to not re-sign Dobbins or Edwards, as an alternative signing Najee Harris and drafting Omarion Hampton. Dobbins didn’t discover a crew till over a month after the draft, touchdown with the Denver Broncos. Denver had a three-man rotation between Javonte Williams, Jaleel McLaughlin and Audric Estime final season. Williams went to the Dallas Cowboys, whereas the crew added R.J. Harvey within the second spherical of the draft.
Harvey, Dobbins, Estime and McLaughlin could make the roster, though one participant would probably be inactive every week, as none of them present a lot special-teams worth. Dobbins will most probably carve out a task on early downs and could lead on the crew in carries. However, he may be misplaced in an unpleasant rotation the place not one of the Broncos’ working backs have a lot success from a fantasy perspective.
While Dobbins is skilled on passing downs, he hasn’t essentially performed properly there, and Harvey appears higher suited to be the passing-down again. There is an opportunity Harvey doesn’t play in addition to anticipated or suffers an harm, during which case Dobbins may be the first backup for passing down snaps.
Impact of teammates
Dobbins joins Sean Payton, a coach who’s used to each extremely profitable fantasy backs and committees within the backfield. The large query is that if the Broncos could have a three-man backfield or if it might condense to a two-man backfield.
From 2008-2016, Payton’s New Orleans Saints constantly had three working backs with a minimum of 200 offensive snaps however sometimes had nobody exceed 500 snaps. They would have one greater again like Deuce McAllister, Mike Bell, Ladell Betts or Mark Ingram II, and two smaller backs with some mixture of Reggie Bush, Pierre Thomas, Darren Sproles or Travaris Cadet. In his previous couple of seasons with the Saints, it was sometimes Ingram or Latavius Murray as an early-down again and Alvin Kamara because the receiving again.
There is an opportunity the backfield resembles the sooner Saints groups, the place Estime takes an early-down function, Dobbins fills the Thomas function of doing every thing, and Harvey takes the Bush/Sproles function. This would make it arduous to belief anybody in fantasy. However, there may be additionally an opportunity Dobbins takes the Ingram function, which might be becoming contemplating they had been former teammates, and Harvey takes the Kamara function. In the primary two years of Ingram and Kamara, each working backs had been top-30 fantasy working backs in each seasons.
The Broncos’ offensive line is mostly extra of an asset than a legal responsibility. The line stayed very wholesome final season, as all 5 starters performed a minimum of 850 snaps and a minimum of 14 of 18 video games, together with the playoffs. Denver retained all 5 linemen for this season. Lines typically play higher the extra snaps they play collectively. However, all 5 gamers are additionally at a degree of their careers the place you wouldn’t anticipate far more enchancment.
Bottom line
There is a really wide selection of outcomes for J.Ok. Dobbins this season. Not many have him as a top-12 possibility, however there are many eventualities the place he finishes as a top-24 fantasy working again in factors per sport, despite the fact that it may be unimaginable to know which weeks he’ll do properly and which weeks he gained’t.
Footnotes
- Statistics in tables and charts had been chosen based mostly on their capacity to foretell future fantasy efficiency on a per-game or per-opportunity foundation or to explain the participant relative to others on the identical place.
- “Opportunities” are outlined as passing dropbacks, dashing makes an attempt and routes run as a receiver.
- Numbers are supplied both by season or based mostly on the previous three years. For rookies, solely faculty statistics are included. For non-rookies, solely NFL statistics are thought of, no matter whether or not they performed in faculty throughout the earlier three years.
- As faculty competitors is less complicated than NFL competitors, most rookies are prone to see a decline from their historic numbers.
- Only FBS knowledge is taken into account for school gamers and comparisons.
- Kneel-downs are faraway from dashing knowledge to offer cleaner quarterback dashing price statistics.
- The desk colours on this article vary from blue (indicating good/excessive) to pink (indicating dangerous/low).
- All percentiles and shade codings examine the given participant to others with a excessive pattern of alternatives. Generally, the cutoff is one-third of the doable alternatives within the pattern. If a participant doesn’t meet the edge, they’re nonetheless included within the comparability, although their outcomes could seem higher or worse than anticipated because of the smaller, much less predictive pattern dimension.
- Information on utilization classifications and their significance will be discovered right here for working backs, large receivers and tight ends.