Running All Over the League: How This Injury Prone Running Back Is Dominating the NFL
J.K. Dobbins is truly in a league of his own. After getting off to a stellar start to the 2024 campaign, there is currently no other player in the NFL who has even been close to matching Dobbins’ run production thus far. Coming off of a torn achilles in the first game of the season for the Baltimore Ravens last year, Dobbins was unsure if he would be able to find a contract this year due to his injury history. Not only has he found a contract, but he has also been able to find plenty of success reuniting with his former Offensive Coordinator in Los Angeles, Greg Roman.
Through two games this season, Dobbins has run for a whopping 266 yards on only 27 rushing attempts. To put this in perspective, Jordan Mason, filling in for the injured Christian McCaffrey, is second in the league in rushing yards and has ran the ball 48 times through two games this season, 21 more attempts than Dobbins. J.K. Dobbins is clearly ahead of the field in rushing yards per carry as well, averaging 9.9 yards per rushing attempt. Next closest is Dobbins’ former Baltimore Ravens teammate Lamar Jackson, averaging eight yards per attempt as a Quarterback. However, the second-best Running back on this list is New England Patriots Running back Antonio Gibson, averaging 6.2 yards per carry, 3.7 yards less than Dobbins. Alvin Kamara’s overall impact is hard to overlook, leading the league with four rushing touchdowns, but his high volume usage makes Dobbins statistically more effective, with more rushing yards in a smaller number of carries. Surprisingly enough, Dobbins does not even lead his own team in rushing attempts, as teammate Gus Edwards has 85 rushing yards on 29 rushing attempts.
Although the Los Angeles Chargers have favored using a Running back tandem, Dobbins is likely to continue to take carries away from Edwards if he can remain healthy as the season goes on. Dobbins’ production has been amazing this year for the Chargers after the departures of Keenan Allen and Austin Ekeler in the offseason. Dobbins and Quarterback Justin Herbert will hope to remain undefeated as the Chargers head to Pittsburgh to face the Steelers on Sunday. This will be a tough test for Dobbins and the Chargers as the Steelers’ defense has only allowed 16 points through two games this season and only 153 total rushing yards to opponents in that time, an average of 76.5 rushing yards allowed per game. With Dobbins’ success this season, one of these will have to give this Sunday, making for an interesting matchup between the two undefeated sides.
