Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - PLAN: Denver Broncos IDEAL VISION at Running Back With J.K. Dobbins and RJ Harvey

Starting point is 00:00:00 With J.K. Dobbins returning to the Denver Broncos this off season, the vision at the running back position has become a little bit more clear, especially for R.J. Harvey. You are locked on Broncos. Your daily Denver Broncos podcast. Part of the Locked on podcast network, your team every day. What's up, Broncos country? I'm Cody Roar, Credential Broncos reporter for Mile High Sports. And on today's bonus episode, Lockdown Broncos, we're talking about the running back vision now that J.K. Dobbins has returned to the mix here for Denver. this offseason. And what that may mean for RJ Harvey and how that third down role for him might actually open itself up a little bit further with the return of Dobbins and the numbers.

Starting point is 00:00:44 They don't lie. Thanks for making Lockdown Broncos. It was your first listen. However you choose to do so and a special shout out to all the everydayers here. Just a reminder of Lockdown podcast, Noreg is the No-Wen Sports Podcast Network in the country. All thanks to all of you here. But let's get into it here. J.K. Dobbins, as we all know, folks, is back on a two-year deal with Denver, essentially a two-year $20 million deal where really it's a one-year deal the way it's structured that Denver, if they wanted to move on after this year, they simply could. They have an easy out there. But if it turns out well, they'll pay J.K. Dobbins what he deserves from a production standpoint. And before his injury in 2025, he was on pace for 1,300 yards as a rusher. And from

Starting point is 00:01:23 scrimmage, he was an impact player here for Denver. We have some numbers here, according to our friends over there, true media, that tell us a little bit about how the Broncos can maybe evolve. not only their usage with JK, but with RJ Harvey as well. And I think that's something we're going to break down here. But I think when you look on a down-to-down basis here, with J.K. Dobbins' return, he's going to be the primary back for Denver this upcoming season, barring anything crazy, right? And I think the numbers from last year, specifically on first down, second down, they kind of tell us that story. Third down, paints a little bit of a different picture as well.

Starting point is 00:01:55 J.K. was the Broncos best overall runner last season from an efficiency standpoint. He had two 100-yard performances last season, which snapped a long-standing streak of 36-plus games, where Denver went since 2022 without having a 100-yard rusher. That tells you just how bad the run game had been for Denver since that time where Latavius Murray broke off those big performances. But the thing with J-Ks, he would rip off these chunk runs at various points of the game. And I'd say his style of patient running was something that meshed really well with this offense. Now, I think we can have an entirely different conversation about Denver's consistent. run pass in balance where it was more lean to the Broncos throwing the football a lot in the first

Starting point is 00:02:35 half running the ball a lot more in the second half but the strategy is here if Denver could find balance there they might have a perfect one-to-punch with jk and with RJ let's focus here on jk and his numbers on a down to down basis let's start off with first down and these numbers are from our friends over there true media on first down this past season he had a hundred and two total touches from scrimmage right 500 and nine total yards from scrimmage that's as a rusher and also out of the backfield as a pass catcher. 15 total first down. So a majority of his production, the season, as we can go through and know,

Starting point is 00:03:08 especially with the 700-something yards rushing that he had before his injury, 509 total of those yards from scrimmage came on first down. So he is your primary back. He is the guy that's going to get the first and second touches more than likely. When you go to second down, 54 total touches for him on the season, 203 yards from scrimmage and 18 total first downs. So it is easy to see right here. here in this situation that last year, based on how Sean Payton use him,

Starting point is 00:03:34 I don't know what it's going to look like necessarily with Davis Webb, but JK is your primary guy. First and second down, you're going to keep him in there for the first couple of plays per series, right? Let's say you get a first down on first down. Well, JK should still stay in the game and get that secondary touch there. He is your primary guy. And right now that maybe tracks to be around 15 to 16 carries per game. And we'll talk about how it opens things up for RJ Harvey here in today's show.

Starting point is 00:03:56 But I think it really goes to show that Sean Payton, envisioned a certain role for him last season. And it was entirely different on third down. He wasn't on the field as much on third down. He didn't have a lot of touches on third down last season. So if you want to go to the numbers, it even tells you that on third down last season, he had eight total touches, folks, through 10 games played, eight total touches on third down through 10 games played, 16 scrimmage yards for first down.

Starting point is 00:04:22 So eight touches that he had, four of them move the chains for first down. So you're thinking maybe third and short situations, that's what makes the most sense here. But if it's third and medium, third and long, ideally he's not touching the ball. He's probably not even on the field. We saw that role kind of relegated to Tyler Badegh last season, which for me, I think we look at a handful of games like the Cincinnati Bengals game on Monday night football. We saw the Broncos all of a sudden start using a two-back system where it was really just JK and it was RJ. And these two thrive. You go to week seven against the Dallas Cowboys. It's JK and RJ. And it's like, all right, these guys are the.

Starting point is 00:05:00 primary workhorses of the Broncos run game here. You didn't see much rotation with other guys coming in and taking reps away from JK or RJ. And that's something that has to be the standard going into 2026. This has to be the Broncos one two punch this upcoming season. As Sean Payton has always said, you can play three, but it's hard to feed three. You can normally feed two. Well, the two that you need to feed are JK and RJ Harvey Harvey here.

Starting point is 00:05:24 And we'll tell you exactly how this opens up. Maybe RJ Harvey's role this upcoming season to maybe be that third down back. for the Broncos if JK can stay healthy because of his usage on first and second down. You're going to get all that here on today's episode, Lockdown on Broncos. Today's episode of the show was brought to you by friends over there at Fanddual. College basketball, it's nonstop. And the big bracket tournament is starting this week. You got big games, tight spreads, momentum swings every single night from early tip-offs

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Starting point is 00:07:27 com slash podcast. Just go to Indeed.com slash podcast right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Indeed.com slash podcast terms of conditions apply. Need to hire. This is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs. RJ Harvey had to take on a larger role for the Broncos offense last season after J.K. Dobbins's injury and he had to become the RB1. He really was the main rushing component for Sean Payton after Dobbins injury and it put the Broncos in some tough positions. and it also impacted at times, I would say, the confidence of Harvey. Let's take a look at maybe how with Dobbins return and if he can stay healthy, how the Broncos truly might be able to embrace a one-two punch here at running back with both of these guys.

Starting point is 00:08:07 The way that we saw at times last season, I referenced the Bengals game, I referenced the Cowboys game. These two guys complement each other so well, whereas JK, as a rusher, I feel like his patient can hit the hole, get skinny, and explode up the seam. Whereas RJ, you know, he's got more physical. to him than I would say J.K. does. But he can hit the hole, get downhill, get positive yards, but he can also have that breakaway speed off the outside edge, which we didn't get to see too much of last season because defenses did a lot to take that away. So if the Broncos can find

Starting point is 00:08:39 a way to have better run past balance with Davis Webb as a play caller, J.K. Dobbins stays healthy as the primary back on first and second down. There is a situation that exists here where RJ Harvey can replace Tyler Bade is that third down back. A lot of people want to say, well, Tyler Badey is the best pass protection back the Broncos have. You can make an argument for that. RJ Harvey can become that. He can get good at that. J.K. Dobbins can be good in this situation.

Starting point is 00:09:02 But how the Broncos have used these two guys indicates that that is an unknown territory for them. And I think that in 2026, they have a chance to explore that a little bit. So let's take a look to really compound this into what RJ Harvey did last season on a down-to-down basis here. Dobbins return means that RJ can become the third downback if the Broncos choose to let him do that. And what that opens up is a third down passing situations. We know RJ is the best pass catching back out of all the Broncos running backs right now. Five receiving touchdowns last season. He had 18 receiving first downs.

Starting point is 00:09:35 And he did a lot where he made guys miss that, you know, the ball's thrown in the flat. You have five or six yards to get the first down. He's running through contact. He's avoiding guys. That's one element of RJ's game that makes this Broncos offense dangerous. If they can have all the components to run effectively and to air it out with Bowling. Knicks with the other playmakers. If those guys can start catching passes, the Broncos have all the players to have a well-rounded offense here. But let's go to the usage here of RJ last season.

Starting point is 00:10:01 Now, on first down, as we referenced with J.K. Dobbins, for RJ, he had 122 total touches on first down last season. Five total touchdowns as well. I want to highlight that. That's important to point out here. But 564 scrimmage yards on first down for RJ. And a lot of this picked up after J.K.'s injury. We saw the more prominent feature role there for RJ down the stretch there. 15 receiving first downs on first down. That's impressive. That's what you want to see a little bit more of here. Second down, 89 total touches for Harvey, four touchdowns from scrimmage, 390 yards from scrimmage and 24 first downs.

Starting point is 00:10:40 And then third down, 24 touches for him, four touchdowns, 119 scrimmage yards, and 12 first down. So 50% of your overall touches on third down last season for, Harvey, they were chain movers for a first down. Four of those were obviously touchdowns. That is very efficient here. And that is while you're still trying to maneuver through this running back rotation at the beginning of the season featured JK, RJ and Tyler Badegh, down the stretch it featured RJ is the premier guy. Tyler Badegh and Jaliel McLaughlin as those secondary guys getting reps and opportunities on the field, whereas the Broncos have to embrace just JK, just RJ. You can have one of those other guys active just in case of an emergency

Starting point is 00:11:20 but you should be primarily getting most of your snaps and your overall touches to JK and RJ here going forward. I think the efficiency on third down, that is definitely a bigger reason why the Broncos need to have RJ become the third down back here for Sean Payton and for Davis Webb this upcoming season. But once again, I want to reiterate those efficient numbers there on third down, 24 total touches, 12 first downs, four touchdowns. There is a world here where RJ can become that third down back. and if the Broncos choose to exclusively feature both RJ and JK, this is an offense between these two guys where, hey, maybe there is a reality where you could alternate series and differentiate the roles, right?

Starting point is 00:11:59 There might be an opportunity where one series, it's JK as your two down back, we're on first and second down. He's getting the first touches. Third down, RJ Harvey comes in, right? And you go about the drive from there. Maybe the next drive, you flip it up to where it's RJ getting the first and second down touches and then JK coming in and being that third down back.

Starting point is 00:12:16 You can use both of these guys effectively the same here, but it also maintains continuity. It's not impacting the flow of the offense. You're not constantly shifting and changing your personnel out. You're just sticking with the formula of, hey, we're going to go with this guy on this series. We're going to go with this guy, the second series. And then we're going to alternate their roles there where you're maximizing the overall

Starting point is 00:12:35 touches that each of these backs are getting inside of this offense. And I have a feeling if Davis Webb has it his way, I imagine we are going to see that efficiency kind of come to the forefront a little bit more here for this Broncos offense that desperately needs a more consistent running game. Prior to J.K. Dobbins injury, the Broncos, they had the top three or number third ranked rushing offense there collectively. They were averaging over 140 yards on the ground per game as a team. And that's factoring in maybe Bow Nix using his legs from time to time. But primarily it was JK and RJ Harvey's production because they would find a ways.

Starting point is 00:13:09 Even if it was struggling in the first half a little bit, either one of these guys would break open a huge run that would all of a sudden change the dynamic. of a game. And you talk about clutch plays as well, R.J. Harvey being able to match up against inside linebackers on swing and wheel routes where he can beat those guys down the sideline. You saw it with his overall production in terms of receiving touchdowns this past season. JK wasn't really featured in that role as a pass catch. He had a few passes caught on the season, but that was not the role they relegated into it. It was, hey, JK is our best overall rusher, and we're going to find a way to give him the ball. He got going. And he's obviously been on the record

Starting point is 00:13:44 from time to time saying, hey, I'm very good when I'm just keeping the hot hand going, right? If I'm warm, I'm good. But if you're constantly changing out the running back personnel, changing the rotations, the snap counts of certain guys, that can impact the overall flow of the offense. And that was a very evident issue last season. Let's hope that Davis Webb and maybe this brain trust of Sean Payton handing things over to him will allow the Broncos run game to thrive a little bit more here in 2026. But what that said, Broncos country, that'll wrap up today's bonus episode.

Starting point is 00:14:14 of the show. Please let me know your thoughts on the Broncos vision here at running back that I outlined. Would you prefer Denver to just have a one-two punch between these two guys specifically, or you still want them to have three guys in the mix here on the offensive side of the ball? We'll catch you tomorrow for a brand new episode, Locked on Broncos.

Locked On Broncos - Daily Podcast On The Denver Broncos - PLAN: Denver Broncos IDEAL VISION at Running Back With J.K. Dobbins and RJ Harvey

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