Should the Broncos really trust J.K. Dobbins to stay healthy?

The pinky promise lasted two games. J.K. Dobbins, the running back who stood in front of Broncos Country this summer and swore he would play all 17 games this season, left the field early during Sunday’s 20-13 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars.

On a recent edition of “Dover and Cecil” on 104.3 The Fan, Cecil Lammey and Josh Dover made clear that the time for patience, optimism, and polite benefit of the doubt has officially expired.

Lammey didn’t dance around the question that has followed Dobbins throughout his entire NFL career.

“Does anybody trust J.K. Dobbins? The answer should be a resounding ‘no.’ Nobody out there, the Broncos had better not trust J.K. Dobbins,” Lammey said.

That isn’t a hot take. It’s pattern recognition built on years of evidence. Dobbins has never completed a full NFL season without an injury interruption. The talent has always been undeniable, when healthy, he is one of the most explosive runners in football. But the qualifier has always been the same two words. When healthy. And those two words are doing the heavy lifting once again as the Broncos stare down a possible absence in Week 3.

Dover pointed to the organizational behavior that tells the real story.

“They don’t. You know how I know? They drafted running backs in the last two years, and worked some out yesterday,” Dover said.

That detail is the one that says everything. On Tuesday, the Broncos brought in three free-agent running backs for tryouts. Jaden Nixon, Sam Scott, and Marcus Yarns. Teams don’t hold emergency workouts at a position of strength. They hold them when they don’t trust the player occupying the top of the depth chart to be available. The front office is hedging its bet. It has been hedging its bet for two years.

Lammey was done pretending otherwise.

“Stop dancing around with this whole thing, it’s just, it’s preposterous,” Lammey said.

He then offered the simplest possible solution.

“It’s Week 3, and we’re here with J.K. Dobbins. So my solution is real simple. Make the best guy your starter,” Lammey said.

That’s the conversation the coaching staff needs to have. RJ Harvey has shown he can catch passes out of the backfield and create in space. Jonah Coleman was the star of training camp and earned the coaching staff’s endorsement after just four preseason carries. Both players are younger and hungrier. The Broncos don’t need to wait for Dobbins to get hurt again to make the change. They need to make the change because the pattern has already told them everything they need to know.

The pinky promise was a nice moment. It made for a great sound bite. But promises don’t gain yards, and they don’t keep a team’s rushing attack functional through a 17-game season. Dobbins’ talent was never the issue. His durability has always been the issue. And two games into the season, the issue is back, right on schedule.

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