Sean Payton Sees J.K. Dobbins as 'Compound Multiplier' for Broncos

The Denver Broncos, after one year of the J.K. Dobbins experience in 2025, decided they wanted to see a bit more from him moving forward by bringing him back onto the roster with a two-year, $16 million contract earlier this offseason.

The move comes after a productive, yet injury-shortened season on Dobbins' behalf, which has unfortunately been a pretty common outcome for the 27-year-old running back's time in the league.

After 10 games where Dobbins put together 153 carries for 772 rushing yards and four touchdowns, he would suffer a season-ending foot injury.

However, considering he was productive in those opportunities (averaging 5.0 yards per carry), it certainly wasn't enough to dissuade Denver from running it back with him for a second year.

What Sean Payton Had to Say About J.K. Dobbins

And in Sean Payton's eyes, he still sees Dobbins as a critical piece of this Broncos' running back room for 2026––touting him as a "compound multiplier" that's able to take this well-rounded position group and make it exponentially better when he's out on the field.

“I think if you just take [running] backs around the league and you understand the length... The season is not getting any shorter; it’s getting longer," Payton said of his confidence in Dobbins staying healthy. He was a big part of our success a year ago. I think certainly where we’re at with that running back room today, we feel like is further along than maybe when we first got here."

"So he’s one of those compound multipliers. There’s so much that he brings... You usually hear him before you see him in there, probably sometimes out here. He’s a tremendous teammate and yes, I’m glad he’s with us.”

Payton Not Ready to Define Broncos' RB Depth Chart Yet

It's clear Payton has a vision to use Dobbins as a key piece of this offense like he did during the running back's first season in the fold for 2025, as he ultimately led the Broncos in rushing yards and carries despite his injury-shortened year.

This rushing attack was an effective, consistent piece of thier overall scoring unit when Dobbins was leading the charge, and had complements like R.J. Harvey to help shoulder some of the load both on the ground and in the passing game.

August 9, 2025; Santa Clara, California, USA; Denver Broncos running back J.K. Dobbins (27) warms up before the game against the San Francisco 49ers at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

However, with how the running back room has developed heading into the 2026 season–– with Harvey entering his second year pro, and Jonah Coleman entering as a new chess piece for the Broncos' offensive plans–– Payton isn't quite ready to define what everyone's role is in the offense, and what their depth chart will look like.

Granted, that thought process will probably change once training camp starts off later this month. But at least during the Broncos' offseason program, where everyone's first getting their feet wet for the 2026 season, Payton's not putting too much stock into the order of operations.

“I don’t think about it in June," Payton said of the Broncos' running back rotation at OTAs. "I think it’s important to stack that position. We drafted to a strength again. Obviously having [RB] J.K. [Dobbins] back… There’s experience in that room. I think that’s one of those rooms, kind of like receiver, that in a very short period of time has really improved."

"Those things tend to take care of themselves. It’s a fair question. Three in a game on a consistent basis, sometimes, can be challenging.”

At the very least, you can expect the three-man group of Dobbins, Harvey, and Coleman to get a good share of opportunities throughout the season, with Dobbins being the most likely name to shoulder the bulk of those carries––at least early on.

Sign up for our free Denver Broncos On SI newsletter, and get breaking Broncos news delivered to your inbox daily!

Add us as a preferred source on Google