Through two weeks of runs, flips and big gains, J.K. Dobbins has emerged as the NFL’s leading rusher and an early candidate for the AP NFL Comeback Player of the Year.
It’s a testament to Dobbins’ character, as the Los Angeles Chargers running back has admittedly emerged from some "dark days" that followed injury-plagued seasons with the Baltimore Ravens.
Dobbins, having played just nine games over the past three seasons, leads the league with 266 rushing yards across the Bolts’ 2-0 start, doing so with healthy legs and a strong mind.
“The body, you’re going to build that back, but the mind aspect of it, man, you definitely gotta tap into another area,” Dobbins said this week on The Jim Rome Show when discussing the mental toll injuries can take. “You know there’s some days, some dark days, some days where you’re like, ‘Man, am I gonna get back?’”
Following four years with the Ravens, Dobbins signed a one-year pact with the Chargers this offseason. He professed himself 100-percent healthy and he’s looked better than ever thus far.
Dobbins’ eye-popping 9.9 yards per carry and 133 yards per game are both atop the early NFL leaderboards, as well. He’s run for a pair of touchdowns, including an NFL-long 61-yarder in Week 1 against the Las Vegas Raiders and a 43-yarder against the Carolina Panthers. On the latter, Dobbins flipped into the end zone, landing on his back. After that, Dobbins said general manager Joe Hortiz told him, “no more flips.”
It's been the only blip of a health concern so far.
Dobbins broke out as a rookie in 2020 for the Ravens, rushing for 805 yards and nine touchdowns over 15 games. Since then, Dobbins’ long list of injury troubles have prevented him from playing in as many games combined as he did in his first season.
From 2021 through Week 2 of this season, Dobbins has played in just 11 games.
He tore up his knee ahead of the 2021 season and missed the whole year. In 2022, Dobbins played in only eight games due to a separate knee issue. Then last year, Dobbins tore his Achilles in Week 1.
“That was my last year on my contract, so I was like, man, is another team maybe gonna take a chance on me?” Dobbins said. “And that’s early. That’s before I knew, oh yeah, I’m healthy, oh yeah, I’m gonna get this chance and I’m gonna do well with it. Early, when I’m scooting around on my butt, I can’t walk, I can’t even put on a regular shoe, I can’t be barefoot, because an Achilles, if you step, you’re gonna stretch it out.
“It was some long dark hours, dark nights where I couldn’t sleep just thinking man, what’s going to happen?”
Still just 25 years old, Dobbins has shown he has plenty left and it was his mindset, shaking off those dark thoughts, that’s helped him persevere.
“In the back of my mind, I knew God always had my back, I knew it happened for a reason,” he said. “I always had those thoughts sometimes, but I would always snap back. It was really fast, after a prayer. It’s been a long journey, but it’s been making me stronger as a man and mentally, as well.”
That journey will continue in Week 3 when the Chargers face a fellow 2-0 squad, the Pittsburgh Steelers. Until this year, Dobbins played in the AFC North, so he knows the Steelers somewhat well, having played in three of a possible eight games against them in his career.
If history is any indicator, Dobbins could well continue his torrid start as he’s averaged better than 108 yards a game in those three tilts versus Pittsburgh.
Dobbins is definitely back, having broken away from the dark days and into the open for some game-breaking runs thanks to an optimistic outlook, good health and an instant chemistry with his offensive line after a productive summer.
“It’s been a unique situation,” Dobbins said, “and just a testimony to the work we’ve been putting in throughout camp.”