The Los Angeles Chargers needed to address the running back position this offseason after moving on from the top two options that they had last year, Austin Ekeler and Joshua Kelley.
New Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh chose to look at the team his brother coaches, the Baltimore Ravens, for a couple of answers. The team signed Gus Edwards early in free agency and then decided to take a shot on J.K. Dobbins, a second-round pick in 2020.
Dobbins came out of Ohio State with a ton of promise and being on a team that has long been known for being a strong running team, most thought he could be one of the best running backs in the entire league.
Dobbins rushed for 805 yards and nine touchdowns as a rookie and it certainly looked like things were headed in that direction. But it has gone completely downhill since then.
Former Ravens and new Chargers RB J.K. Dobbins on reuniting with OC Greg Roman
“I’m excited. He does a lot of great things and he’s a great person and we have a great relationship. It’s gonna be a fun year. We’re gonna have a lot of fun” pic.twitter.com/6HTxvgOBDt
— Kevin Oestreicher (@koestreicher34) April 29, 2024
Since the 2020 season, he has played in a grand total of nine games (including the postseason). He missed the entire 2021 season with a torn ACL and suffered a torn Achilles tendon in the season opener last year. This has led many to jump completely off of the Dobbins train but he still had this to say on Monday.
“It’s been a storm the past two years, having great games, and then, the next thing you know, hurt. Got the injury-prone [label] out there, but I think that the storm is over with. I think that I’m going to take off now. There will be no setbacks. The injury-prone thing will be gone, out of the window, again.”
Those are the kinds of things that fans are going to want to hear, but as the old saying goes, actions speak louder than words. It’s one thing for Dobbins to say that, but it’s another to actually do it and based on recent history, he’s got a lot to prove in order to back up those words.