J.K. Dobbins — Week 1: Eight Carries, One of Them Seventeen
2026 NFL Season · Half-PPR Scoring · Tuesday, Sep 15
Dobbins led Denver with eight carries for 36 yards — 17 of them on one run around left end with 12:33 left in the third quarter — and was not targeted. One of the eight carries was successful by expected points, and the other seven gained nineteen yards, in a 31–10 loss to the Chiefs.
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21 to seven, Chiefs, 12 33 left in the third quarter, first and 10 at the Denver 36, the first snap after Kenneth Walker's 60-yard touchdown. J.K. Dobbins went around left end and ran out of bounds at the Kansas City 47 for 17 yards. +1.2 expected points added — expected points added is what a play was worth given down, distance and field position — and 1.3 points of win probability, the chance of winning the game after the play against before it. It was Denver's only run of 10 or more yards, and the drive ended three snaps and two delay-of-game penalties later in a punt.
The line: eight carries, 36 yards, one first down, one of the eight successful, −1.1 expected points on the carries; no targets. The other seven carries gained two, one, two, four, four, two and four. Three carries before halftime for five yards, five after for 31. No carry on third down, none inside the 20, no fumble.
The split: Dobbins eight designed runs, RJ Harvey three, Troy Franklin one, and one Bo Nix scramble. 12 designed runs on the night plus an aborted snap, six before halftime and seven after, against 19 13 pass plays. Denver ran for 62 yards on 14 rush plays counting the scramble, tied with Tennessee for the fewest in the league this week. Harvey was targeted four times; Dobbins was not targeted.
Back in June the preview leaned overpriced on Dobbins — the 30-fourth back at pick 98, named the number one back after a 10-game season, two downs by design — and named two things to watch: whether Denver managed his practice load like a player it was preserving, and what week Harvey was cleared. Monday's usage matched the two-downs description exactly: the most carries on the team, zero targets, and the passing-down work to Harvey. The efficiency did not: one successful carry in eight. A game Denver trailed from the first quarter is a poor one to read a run game from, and one game does not settle a workload. The carry count held; the rest is a question. The Broncos are home to the Jaguars on Sunday the twentieth.
_Data via nflverse._
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