J.K. Dobbins makes a ‘pinky promise’ to play all 17 games, be No. 1 in rushing

Denver Broncos running back J.K. Dobbins had an electric press conference on Friday afternoon.

It’s July 31, but this might be the best interview a Broncos player delivers all season long.

Dobbins spoke at length about his injury history and doubled down that he’ll lead the NFL in rushing. He initially made those comments to The Denver Post in the middle of June.

And health has been a major concern for Dobbins, playing only 10 games for the Broncos in 2025 before a Lisfranc injury ended things prematurely. Dobbins said he’ll play all 17 this season.

It’s a great press conference worth watching the whole thing, but the real fun begins about the 2:00 mark.

#BroncosCountry LIVE: RB @Jkdobbins22 meets the media after Day 1 of #BroncosCamp https://t.co/uaMgFZLf6T

— Denver Broncos (@Broncos) July 31, 2026

“This year, forget a top-3, I keep saying it, people think I’m crazy but I’m going to be No. 1. And I’m going to keep it there for the whole year. You know, 17 games. A lot of people get mad when I say the injuries are over, cause I said it last year, but that one was pretty fluky, right? This year there won’t be any,” Dobbins said.

Of course this is hard to envision, considering Dobbins missed all of 2021, played eight games in 2022, one in 2023, 13 in 2024 and 10 a season ago. But he’s willing to put some crazy guarantees out into the universe in front of a hot microphone.

“There won’t be anything for anyone to say about my injuries because I’m going to play all 17 games and I’m going to give my team everything I’ve got for all 17 games and I will be there for all 17 games. I’ll pinky promise all of you right now about that,” Dobbins said.

The Broncos No. 1 running back went on say to he’d buy media members a drink if that doesn’t happen and “the storm can’t last forever” meaning he won’t be injured again.

Dobbins was actually fifth in the NFL in rushing yards when he got hurt in 2025 and finished with 772 on the season, averaging an impressive 5.0 yards per carry. It sounds like he thinks he can lead the league in yards on the ground in 2026 and availability won’t be an issue.

These words will either age very poorly or be the start of the best season of Dobbins’ career. There’s really no in between after delivering such a raw and honest interview.

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