Rookie running back RJ Harvey was quickly becoming the hottest name of the summer before the summer even officially began. But the Denver Broncos decided to throw a little late cold weather at his 2025 fantasy football value when they signed veteran running back J.K. Dobbins to a one-year deal this week. That leaves fantasy football gamers scrambling to decide whether to pack up the picnic or ride out the storm.

At the end of the day, it’s going to boil down to talent. Sean Payton has always been a “hot hand” coach, willing to play the best (or possibly just the most loyal) players while sending others to the dog house. That creates a high-risk, high-reward situation for fantasy football rankings. Let’s take a quick look at the player profiles for RJ Harvey and J.K. Dobbins to see which way to lean in your fantasy football drafts. 

 

 

 

RJ Harvey Fantasy Football Profile

The big knock on RJ Harvey in the dynasty community is his age. He’s already 24 years old, which is old for any prospect, but especially for a running back where the cliff comes early. But there’s an explanation for that with Harvey. He was actually recruited as a quarterback before converting to running back. And he suffered a serious knee injury in 2020 that had him miss all of 2021. After playing college ball from 2022 to 2024, he was obviously going to be older than most players.

When he did get a shot to play, however, he was electric. In his second-to-last year at UCF, he put up 1,654 yards from scrimmage and 17 touchdowns. He followed that up with an even more dominant 1,844 yards and 25 touchdowns. He then went and ran a 4.40 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine, which, per PlayerProfiler, is in the 96th percentile for running backs.

Considering Harvey’s smarts and versatility, Sean Payton would presumably look to use him in that “joker” running back role previously occupied by Alvin Kamara. Broncos offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi, who worked with Sean Payton in New Orleans, also loves throwing to the running back. In his 18 years with various offensive staffs with the Broncos, Saints, Chargers, and Lions, his teams have never been outside the top five in passes to the RB group. That’s good news for the Denver pass-down back.

 

 

 

J.K. Dobbins Fantasy Football Profile

J.K. Dobbins has had a tough run of luck in the NFL. When healthy, he has shown explosive upside. But he’s dealt with some serious injuries including a broken fibula that saw him miss his senior season of college, an LCL/hamstring tear that saw him miss all of 2021, an ACL tear that saw him miss most of 2022, a Week One Achilles tear that saw him miss virtually all of 2023, and then an MCL sprain that saw him miss four games last year. That’s a brutal runout.

All of that combined led him to come in second last year for the NFL Comeback Player of the Year award. And he certainly looked good when healthy, accumulating over 1,000 yards from scrimmage while averaging 4.6 yards per carry with the Los Angeles Chargers. The Chargers moved on from Dobbins for Najee Harris and Omarion Hampton, but the Broncos are going to give him a shot.

The veteran Dobbins signed for a one-year, $2.745 million deal that includes incentives up to $5.25M (which happens to be what Najee Harris signed for with the Chargers, for those keeping track at home). Dobbins should easily clear Audric Estime and Jaleel McLaughlin to battle RJ Harvey for touches at the top. But which one will be more relevant for fantasy?

 

 

 

RJ Harvey and J.K. Dobbins Fantasy Football Advice for Denver Broncos

We’ve seen situations like this before. With Sean Payton and his disciples, specifically. Payton’s New Orleans Saints once had Mark Ingram and Adrian Peterson, then also drafted a rookie named Alvin Kamara. Kamara was so explosive that Peterson was eventually traded to the Cardinals. Both Mark Ingram (RB7) and Alvin Kamara (RB3) finished as RB1s in fantasy that year.

We’ve also seen a Sean Payton disciple, Dan Campbell, do something similar. He had a bruiser back in David Montgomery. But they still drafted Jahmyr Gibbs in the first round of the 2023 NFL Draft. Gibbs averaged 16.1 PPR points per game (RB8) and Montgomery averaged 14.8 (RB15). 

Now, we can’t say that these specific examples directly correlate to this one. But they are examples of what can happen in a scheme like this. Sean Payton and Joe Lombardi LOVE passing to the running back. Joe Lombardi has worked with Alvin Kamara and Austin Ekeler, who both had multiple RB1 and even RB1 overall seasons in fantasy despite never rushing for 1,000 yards. If Dobbins is the bruiser back and Harvey is in that “joker” role, they both could be worth their price at ADP. 

One thing is for certain for me, though. I’m not going to let a couple of clouds spoil my picnic. Folks that missed out on the explosive upside of Alvin Kamara and Jahmyr Gibbs should not pass on the speedy multi-tool RJ Harvey just because J.K. Dobbins is in town. With Joe Lombardi’s obsession with passing to the RB, Harvey could be in line for a monster PPR season (especially if the injury bug rears its head again for JK Dobbins). And, with the recent news, RJ Harvey should be even cheaper in drafts now.