J.K. Dobbins is still standing, somehow, through an NFL career that has not come easy and yet has not dimmed the 27-year-old’s mentality to keep churning.
His latest grapple with injury might just wind up as the 5-foot-10 running back’s tallest tale yet.
The Broncos are opening Dobbins’ 21-day window to return off injured reserve, a source confirmed to The Denver Post on Monday afternoon. It means Dobbins will return to practice this week, and if he handles the workload well, there’s a legitimate chance the Broncos could activate their starting running back for Sunday’s AFC championship game against the New England Patriots.
It couldn’t come at a better time, as the Broncos lost starting quarterback Bo Nix to a season-ending ankle fracture in Saturday’s 33-30 overtime win over the Buffalo Bills. Denver will turn to backup QB Jarrett Stidham against the Patriots, but the offense is banged up at the skill positions, with receivers Pat Bryant (concussion) and Troy Franklin (hamstring) exiting against Buffalo. Dobbins’ return would be a major lift, as the running back was tied for fifth in the NFL in rushing yards (722) through 10 games in 2025.
Dobbins suffered a Lisfranc injury in his foot in Week 10’s 10-7 win over the Las Vegas Raiders, and the Broncos placed him on injured reserve the following week. The running back underwent a surgery that could’ve sidelined him for the remainder of the season. A source told The Denver Post at the time, though, that Dobbins intended to be back for the Super Bowl in February if the Broncos advanced that far, and that timeline now matches up.
Buzz has built around a Dobbins return over the last few weeks. The running back has spoken openly about returning before the Super Bowl inside Denver’s facility, and he made an appearance doing rehab work on the side field last week.
“He’s been working his butt off to be able to have a chance to get back,” right tackle Mike McGlinchey told reporters Monday. “Incredibly, incredibly important to what we’ve been doing.”
McGlinchey added that he was still “obviously incredibly confident” in the rest of Denver’s running-back corps. But overall, the Broncos’ efficiency and production on the ground has careened since Dobbins’ injury. The Broncos ranked ninth in the NFL in rushing offense before placing Dobbins on injured reserve; they finished the season at 16th. Rookie RJ Harvey and Jaleel McLaughlin combined for just 41 rushing yards on 10 carries against the Bills in Denver’s 33-30 overtime win Saturday night.
Denver signed Dobbins to a one-year deal worth a base value of $2.745 million in June to add a veteran presence to their backfield, and the running back made plenty good on the team’s investment before the Lisfranc injury. That marked another chapter in a career of horrid injury luck: Dobbins blew out his knee in 2021 and tore his Achilles in 2023, and has never played more than 15 games in any NFL season.
He lost his senior year of high school to a busted ankle, too. In his recruitment process, as programs would ask him about the injury, friend Daven McKenzie told The Post that Dobbins would reply with a singular motto.
“Tough times don’t last,” McKenzie recalled Dobbins saying. “Tough people do.”
An end-of-season return might just be Dobbins’ toughest showcase yet.
