It has been quite the long journey for Los Angeles Chargers running back J.K. Dobbins, who has dealt with multiple season-ending injuries that have completely derailed his promising career to this point. He was drafted by the Baltimore Ravens in the second round of the 2020 NFL Draft out of Ohio State, and quickly made an impact with 805 yards on the ground and nine touchdowns in 15 games during his first year. Since then, he hasn’t even played in as many games combined as he did his rookie season.
From the start of the 2021 season until Week 2 of 2024, Dobbins has appeared in a total of just 11 games. The Ravens allowed him to move on this past offseason, and it was a mystery if another team would even take a chance on paying a guy that hasn’t played a full season in years. Eventually, the Chargers opted to give him another chance to display his talents in the NFL, and he has taken it on the run quite literally to this point.
He’s looked better than ever to begin the 2024 season, leading the league in rushing with 266 yards on the ground and helping the team get out to a 2-0 start to the year. He’s averaging a pretty crazy 9.9 yards per carry to this point and 133.0 yards per game, both leading the NFL. Perhaps most impressively, he leads the NFL in missed tackles, as Jake Tribbey from Fantasy Points noted:
JK Dobbins - 0.33 missed tackles forced/attempt
Devin Singletary - 0.31
Aaron Jones - 0.30
Rhamondre Stevenson - 0.28
Bijan Robinson - 0.28
Missed tackles forced per attempt is one of the most important metrics for RB efficiency and Dobbins leads the entire NFL.
Dobbins is still just 25 years old, so despite all of the injuries, he is just now entering the prime of his career under run-happy head coach Jim Harbaugh. He’ll get a very difficult matchup this weekend against the Pittsburgh Steelers, who have shown a very stingy defense to this point. Still, Dobbins has quite a strong history against Pittsburgh from his days in Baltimore. He played in three of the possible eight games he could have against them, and averaged 108.0 yards per game in that span.
Right now at BetMGM, Dobbins’ rushing prop is set at 49.5, with a longest rush prop of 13.5. With how good he has been early on, and his history against the Steelers, these could be some advantageous lines.
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