J.K. was not OK. He found himself going back and forth a little in his head, between a contract offer from the Broncos, and one from another AFC contender.
Only J’Kaylin 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.
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.
was Dobbins’ postiion coach at rival Ohio State. TA made a mental note; he’d call his protege back later.
Only a short while after that, Alford — a Doherty High grad and stalwart CSU Rams running back under Earle Bruce — happened to be looking at the television when J.K.’s name crawled across the the bottom of screen:
Broncos re-sign Dobbins for two years, $16 million.
Alford FaceTimed him.
Bwoooop!
“What the hell?” the coach asked.
“Hey, I tried to call you,” Dobbins explained. “I wanted to get your opinion.”
Dobbins told Alford that his 2026 choices were down to two. To Bronco, or not to Bronco?
“First of all, he loves Colorado. He loves Denver. He loves the organization,” Alford told me by phone this week. “I know he loves Sean Payton.
“He’s so excited for the season and what’s coming. I know he’s talked a lot about this team, this organization as a whole and where it’s headed. He’s really excited about being there, what’s coming.”
And about finishing what he started. The 27-year-old tailback was the Broncos’ 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.
“He moves around with a chip in his shoulder,” Alford told me. “I think the injuries have helped motivate him to get back. ‘I got hurt, but watch how I come back.’
“He 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’s true.
“But 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.”
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.
“He was a big part of our success a year ago,” Payton told reporters last week when asked about Dobbins’ health. “I think certainly where we’re at with that running back room today, we feel like is further along than maybe when we first got here (in 2023). So he’s one of those compound multipliers. There’s so much that he brings.”
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.
“(Dobbins) needs them, too,” Alford said. “It brings a lot of joy to my heart to hear that they need him and they want him. But I’ve 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.
“I 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’s motivation to get him to prove them right.”
Dobbins picks his friends and confidants the way a jeweler selects precious stones — he values long-term trust, the cut of a man’s soul, over flash and fun.
“I was recruiting him (in Texas) and he had a couple of buddies … and one day, I said, ‘Where’s so-and-so? I didn’t see you (hanging around) with this guy anymore.’ And he said, ‘Coach, he’s out.’ This is when he was 17. He said this coming in (to Ohio State) and I’ve never forgotten it — he said, ‘If you’re not 100% with me, you’re 100% against me.'”
Last month, when Alford was in town recruiting for the Wolverines, he made a side trip over to Dobbins’ place. What was supposed to be 30 minutes of catching up turned into two hours of orange-and-blue gushing.
“Listen, the guy wants to win championships,” Alford said. “And 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’t want speak for him, but that much, I know.”
Dobbins was so locked in toward showing the Broncos his commitment that he trained in Denver instead of heading south to far-flung training centers down in California or Texas.
“I need the people (in the organization) to know I’m bought-in here,” Dobbins told Alford. “And that this is home.”
Consider them convinced.
“He looks like a million bucks,” Alford said. He laughed and corrected himself. “Or, I should say, 16 million bucks.”
