The Denver Broncos have already had a wild ride this season with some very nice wins, but a couple of disappointing results as well, especially for the offense. The team is 5-2 after seven games, though, and they get a chance to avenge their Week 1 loss to the Chiefs this week in Denver. Since Kansas City slipped up last week, a win by the Broncos would also move them into first place in the division. The Broncos have been rotating running backs this year, with J.K. Dobbins, RJ Harvey and Jonah Coleman all getting opportunities. Which of the three backs can you start in your fantasy lineups in Week 8 against the Chiefs, or should you leave all three of the Broncos’ backs on the bench?
Let’s take a look at the latest info on the Broncos backfield for Week 8 against the Chiefs, and see who is in position to be a fantasy contributor.
Jonah Coleman or J.K. Dobbins Start or Sit Advice for Week 8
The Broncos have been using RJ Harvey as the team’s primary passing-down option, and he earned double-digit FPTS in four of his five games. This week in practice, though, Harvey picked up a knee injury and was ultimately ruled out for this matchup. Without Harvey, there will be more work potentially available for Coleman and Dobbins, which boosts both their floor and ceiling. Both Coleman and Dobbins have upside, but both also come with uncertainty due to the timeshare.
Of the two players, Dobbins is the more established option, and he has found the end zone in each of his last three games. He had a season-high 15.4 FPTS against the Chargers at the start of that run, but in Week 7, he only had six carries, the fewest this season. He only got two carries in the second half, although one of those was his touchdown run. He’s only averaging 3.4 yards per carry this season, and he has only had more than 50 rushing yards in one game.
The coaching staff is carefully monitoring his workload, and since the Broncos were ahead of the Cardinals, Dobbins said he was fine with sharing the workload in the second half. While he does still seem to be the preferred option near the goal line, it’s definitely worth noting how involved Jonah Coleman was in his return from injured reserve, to see if the rookie ends up forcing Dobbins out.
While he was the only one of the Broncos’ three running backs not to get into the end zone in Week 7, Coleman still had a very impressive showing.
He played 30 snaps (49%), while Dobbins played 14 and Harvey played 16. Part of that may have been due to the game scenario, but Coleman made the most of his opportunities, racking up 54 rushing yards on nine carries. He also caught both of his targets and added 15 receiving yards.
Coleman was just returning from a four-game stay on the IR with an ankle injury, but he stepped right into a significant role and looked dynamic and productive. Before his injury, he had 14.8 FPTS in Week 2 against the Jaguars in one of the Broncos’ biggest wins of the year.
As a rookie, Coleman doesn’t have the track record of success that Dobbins brings, but he seems to offer the most sizzle and upside right now as well. It’s hard to know if he’ll continue to get more work than Dobbins on early downs if the team is not comfortably ahead as they were in the second half, but the rookie looked very solid and may have earned more playing time.
Whoever plays for the Broncos will be in a tough matchup against the Chiefs, who have allowed only 73.7 rushing yards per game to the position this season. They did give up 115 rushing yards and a touchdown to Emanuel Wilson last week, but still rank in the top 10 at limiting running backs’ fantasy production.
For DFS contests like the NFL $2.5M Fantasy Football Millionaire [$1M to 1st, $50K Crown Cash Throne Eligible] on DraftKings, all three of the Broncos’ running backs have upside but come with significant risk. Dobbins is the more expensive with a $5,300 salary, while Coleman has a bargain salary of only $4,200. Based on his production so far this season, Dobbins will need to find the end zone to be a good play at that price, while Coleman brings elite value potential as one of the best sleeper plays at RB if he maintains last week’s workload.
For season-long leagues, Dobbins is still very touchdown-dependent and should only be in a FLEX spot in deep leagues. Coleman is also tough to start with his uncertain workload, although he’s definitely worth adding from the waiver wire if available and stashing for future weeks in case he secures the RB1 role. Even with Harvey out, the matchup and volatile timeshare make both Dobbins and Coleman hard to trust this week. They bring enough upside to be deep league options, but they fall outside the top options to start in most standard-sized formats this week.
