J.K. Dobbins

Arguably no player has been handed worse injury luck than Dobbins the last three years. His 2021 ended in the preseason with a gruesome multi-ligament knee injury, one that lingered into the 2022 season and required an in-season arthroscopic surgery. Dobbins then came back strong late in 2022 and won his starting job back, only to suffer a torn Achilles' tendon Week 1 of 2023, just in time for him to enter free agency. The Chargers gave Dobbins a one-year contract, reuniting him with former Ravens offensive coordinator Greg Roman (now in the same role under Jim Harbaugh). Roman will also have Gus Edwards in his backfield again, with the 29-year-old coming off a career-high 13 TDs in Baltimore last season. Dobbins was the more explosive runner for the Ravens when both were healthy, but the track record of running backs coming back from Achilles' tears remains daunting, particularly in the first year after the injury. If Dobbins has lost a step or two, it could open the door for not only Edwards but also rookie sixth-round pick Kimani Vidal.

Dobbins' season-ending knee injury from 2021 proved more complicated than your standard ACL tear, which is to be expected given that he also tore his LCL, meniscus and hamstring. It was a truly brutal injury, making it even more impressive that he was as effective as he was when he played in 2022. Dobbins looked mostly like his pre-injury self, averaging 5.7 yards per carry and peeling off four runs of 20-plus yards in just 92 attempts. Now with another offseason to recover, Dobbins will hopefully be at true full force for a contract year. A fully healthy, fully enabled Dobbins could post explosive rushing numbers, and new offensive coordinator Todd Monken is likely an upgrade over predecessor Greg Roman. As a coordinator who mostly traffics in good ideas, expect Monken to recognize Dobbins as one of his best players. It's possible a Lamar Jackson absence would mark a setback of some kind for Dobbins, namely to his per-carry efficiency, but he's the type of talent who will produce no matter what if he's on the field. Gus Edwards remains on the team as a competent between-the-tackles specialist, but he accepted a paycut to stay around and was a better fit for Roman's run-heavy offense. Dobbins is unchallenged as the lead back and should have more pass-catching opportunities in the new scheme.

An ACL tear before Week 1 ruined what might have been a breakout campaign for Dobbins, the first in a series of injuries to the Ravens backfield in 2021. A second-round pick in 2020 out of Ohio State, Dobbins was eased into a prominent role as a rookie, but by the end of his first year in the NFL he looked like a stud in the Baltimore system, finding the end zone in seven straight games and finishing with 6.0 yards per carry. He showed above-average speed and power, and his 2.9 yards after contact per carry (third in the league) demonstrated how difficult he was to bring down in open space. Everything in the Ravens' scheme keys off Lamar Jackson, of course, but Dobbins has the tools to make defenses pay dearly if they over-commit to the QB rushing threat. And while the Ravens have used committee backfields throughout Jackson's time as the starting quarterback, Dobbins (2020) and Mark Ingram (2019, 15 TDs) showed that there's touchdown upside for the top guy. Dobbins still figures to be that, albeit a year late, ahead of Gus Edwards (also returning from an ACL tear), discount free-agent-signing Mike Davis and sixth-round rookie Tyler Badie. It's still Jackson's show, but perhaps with more emphasis on the run game now that Dobbins is returning and WR Marquise Brown is a Cardinal.

Through the first six weeks of his rookie season last year, Dobbins was mostly buried on the depth chart, watching from the sideline as Mark Ingram and Gus Edwards handled most of the carries. The second-round pick did find the end zone twice in his NFL debut, but he didn't see double-digit carries in a game during that initial stretch. Following Baltimore's bye, Dobbins began to push Ingram out of the picture - starting with a Week 8 eruption for 113 yards against the Steelers - and by the end of the year those touchdowns were a weekly occurrence. Dobbins is an athletic runner with power and speed, and he was among the toughest players in the NFL for the initial tackler to bring down, finishing fourth among all RBs with an average of 2.9 yards after contact, a number comparable to the likes of Derrick Henry, Aaron Jones and Nick Chubb. Unfortunately, a preseason torn ACL has derailed Dobbins' second season as a pro, which paves the way for Edwards to head the Ravens' backfield. The silver lining for Dobbins is the early timing of his injury, as he'll have a full year to recover before Week 1 of 2022.

A three-year starter at Ohio State, Dobbins is a chiseled 5-9, 209, with enough strength to punish tacklers and more than enough speed to run past them. While a nagging ankle injury kept him from fully participating at the combine, his workouts as an 18-year-old coming out of high school were eye-popping (he ran a 4.45 40, and his 43.1-inch vertical would have been second highest by a college RB since 2006). He also flashed plenty of breakaway speed at Ohio State, leading the nation last season with 31 runs of 15-plus yards. Dobbins even showed some ability as a receiver and pass protector, cementing his status as a potential three-down option in the NFL. This season, he'll likely be part of a backfield committee for Baltimore, which drafted him 55th overall. The Ravens led the league with 596 rush attempts last season and set a NFL record with 3,296 rushing yards, but it was quarterback Lamar Jackson who led the way with 37 percent of the yardage and a third of the touchdowns, leaving Mark Ingram, Gus Edwards and Justice Hill with a combined 393 carries for 1,954 yards and 14 TDs. That's still big-time production, no doubt, but it'll be tough for Dobbins to take more than half of the pie as a rookie, considering Ingram, Edwards and Hill remain on the roster.