Denver Broncos Running Back Depth Chart — 2026

A handcuff is the backup who inherits the starter's workload if the starter gets hurt — so the Broncos handcuff is whoever sits directly behind J.K. Dobbins on the depth chart above. Rostering him is how you protect a starting back you have already spent a pick on. More on what a handcuff is.

Denver's backfield is unsettled, and the snap counts say so: neither back cleared half the offence's work last season — Harvey at 42.5%, Dobbins at 29.8%. Harvey handled 290 of Denver's pass snaps last season, 42.9%, against Dobbins's 147.

This is not hypothetical here — it is what happened last season, and it is why the rest of this page reads the way it does. Dobbins has played 32 of 68 team games across 4 seasons, 36 missed.

When he went down, Harvey took the room over. He finished with 146 carries and 47 receptions for 356 yards, and played 42.9% of Denver's pass snaps — 29th among running backs. That is a complete role, not a fill-in.

Which of them this season begins with is genuinely undecided, and saying so plainly is the most honest summary of this backfield available.

Both, and possibly three ways. Dobbins's own snap share was only 29.8% and Harvey's 42.5%, which is what a genuinely shared backfield looks like even before injuries. Denver's depth chart now lists Harvey first and Dobbins second, a swap from where they sat before.

The efficiency gap is the argument against a clean split. Dobbins ran +1.08 yards over expected per carry, 4th of 49 qualifying backs, at 5.05 a carry on 153 attempts. Harvey carried 146 times but produced most of his value through the air, catching 47 passes for 356 yards and ranking 3rd among backs in receiving EPA.

So the two open questions are whether Dobbins runs like that again over a full season, and whether Harvey's rushing improves to match his receiving. Neither is answerable from last season's numbers, and the new depth-chart order doesn't settle it either, which is why the camp reporting below carries more weight here than the box score.

Dobbins now holds this job, after the depth chart flipped him ahead of Harvey, and a rookie was drafted to challenge for it.

Harvey was on the field for 290 of Denver's pass snaps, 42.9%, 29th among running backs. He caught 47 passes for 356 yards at 1.23 receiving yards per pass snap. Dobbins played 147 pass snaps at 0.25 yards per, so the pass-game work was not close between them.

Harvey's receiving case is the strongest thing about him: third of 48 qualifying backs in receiving expected points added, on a 25-target minimum. Dobbins' case is on the ground: fourth of 49 backs in rushing yards over expected per attempt, at 5.05 yards per carry on 153 attempts. One player, two very different arguments.

Jonah Coleman is the name to watch against that, and the reason is in the camp reporting below rather than in any number we hold — he has never played an NFL snap.

What the beat is reporting, last refreshed 2026-08-28. Nothing here is measured — it is reporting, attributed and dated.

J.K. Dobbins suffered a Week 10 injury in 2025 and averaged 5.0 yards per carry for 772 yards across 10 games (DenverBroncos.com, 2026-07-13).

Head coach Sean Payton on Dobbins: he was a big part of our success a year ago, and one of those compound multipliers (DenverBroncos.com, 2026-07-13).

RJ Harvey accumulated 896 scrimmage yards and led all rookies with 12 touchdowns in 2025 (DenverBroncos.com, 2026-07-13).

Fourth-round rookie Jonah Coleman's ability to play on third down, his fitness level and his ball security stood out to Payton (DenverBroncos.com, 2026-07-13).