Good morning, Broncos Country!
J.K. Dobbins is one of the most important players for the Denver Broncos.
He’s also becoming one of the most popular.
When Dobbins was on the field last year, he was one of the best running backs in the NFL. He was in the top three yards rushing. And then he suffered a freak injury that kept him out the rest of the season and the playoffs. Given the injury history, there was debate over whether Denver would bring Dobbins back.
When the Broncos re-signed Dobbins for two years and $20 million max at the start
of NFL free agency, he sent an Instagram post that was incredibly popular among fans. The post showed how grateful he is to the organization, to the ownership group, George Paton, Sean Payton, his teammates, and Broncos Country. It also stated how the team is just getting started.
Then, a few days ago, Dobbins did an interview with the NFL Insiders. It’s a great interview, well worth watching, with some fantastic nuggets.
“It was a long, crazy process to get to that point,” he said when asked about what it was like to get the call he was coming back to Denver. “But I’m happy to be home. Denver is home, man. I’ve made a good connection with the fans out here. I love my teammates. I love my coaches. I love the ownership. I love everything about Denver, so it was great to get a deal done and be able to stay home, where I think I’ll be able to thrive.
“I was thriving last year, but something unfortunate happened, which that is part of that game. But this year, I don’t think that’s going to happen.”
Of note, as he told Ian Rapoport and Steve Wyche, he almost returned for the AFC Championship Game. If it had been up to him, he would have played. But with his injury and Bo Nix’s, that leaves some unfinished business from being so good last season and so close.
“Oh, yeah, there is a lot of unfinished business,” Dobbins said. “When I went down, when I got hurt, I think I was third or fourth in total rushing yards in the NFL. The thing that hurt my feelings the most was knowing I was right there in the grasp of something special, especially since the injury thing has been so unfortunate for me.
“When you look at some people, you say ‘injury prone.’ You get the rolled ankles, the hamstring strains, whatever you’re getting. The stuff I’m getting is like, done for the season, let’s get some surgery. It’s like ‘dang, why am I getting these unfortunate things?’ But I’m going to always keep going.”
Dobbins goes on to say that he sees the injuries as an opportunity to improve as a player and as a man. And you can tell how excited he is for the coming season.
“We got an embarrassment of riches on this team of talent,” Dobbins said. “I’m excited. I’m really am. I got hurt, I missed the last seven games in the regular season. I’m fresh. I’m going to be fresh. I’m going to be freshed and I’m going to be pissed off because I’m tired of the unfortunate stuff. And I know that I can do it.
“It’s going to happen this year. I’m telling you, it’s going to be great.”
