J.K. Dobbins

J.K. Dobbins finished 2025 as the number 43 running back in total PPR scoring and the number 27 running back in points per game. That gap tells the whole story in two numbers: when Dobbins played, he was a usable fantasy back. He just didn't play enough. Ten games. Dobbins landed in Denver, seized the lead role almost immediately, and was efficient enough that the Broncos kept feeding him until his year ended in mid-November. R.J. Harvey eventually inherited the workload, but while Dobbins was upright, this was a true workhorse arrangement on a 14-and-3 team that won the AFC West as the number 1 seed.

Now let's dig into the numbers, because the efficiency is the headline. Dobbins ran for 772 yards on 153 carries — 5.1 a pop with 4 rushing touchdowns. His rushing yards over expected: plus 161.1 total, plus 1.08 per attempt, fourth among qualified running backs. Fourth. Genuinely elite per-carry value — and even more impressive when you note 36.6 percent of his carries came against stacked boxes of eight or more defenders. The passing game ignored him: 14 targets, 11 catches, 37 yards, a 5 percent target share. Pure rushing profile. He averaged 11.6 PPR points a game, but the shape was boom-or-bust dressed up as a floor: he cleared 14 points five times in those ten games, yet also dropped a 4-point dud against the Jets, a 6.9 against the Texans, and a 9.0 against the Giants. Low-ceiling, mid-floor back whose fantasy value lived and died with touchdowns and explosive runs, because the receiving work simply wasn't there.

The play that captures the season came in Week 1 against the Titans. Fourth quarter, 7:43 left, first and ten from the Tennessee 19, Broncos clinging to a 13-12 lead. Dobbins took the handoff, hit the left guard gap, and walked in untouched for a 19-yard touchdown — the dagger in a one-score game. That's the Dobbins archetype in one snap: efficient, explosive when the crease is there, finishing drives in the red zone. The problem for managers wasn't what he did on the field. It's that he only got to do it ten times.