The Baltimore Ravens have not seriously invested in the running back position since selecting J.K. Dobbins in the second round in 2020. They have had—when healthy and available—the same three in the backfield since then, the others being Gus Edwards and Justice Hill, the latter a 2019 draft pick. The only other running backs currently on the roster are rookie college free agents.
Dobbins is meant to be their star runner, but he has missed roughly half of the games since entering the league due to injury. He is also entering the final year of his rookie contract, and thus is theoretically due for an extension. While he’s played well when on the field, his injury history makes it difficult to commit to him.
The running back recently made comments via social media that seemed to reference an uncertainty over his long-term future in Baltimore. It’s not clear what prompted it or what the motivation was, but the general idea was that he wasn’t confident he would be a Raven in 2024.
Head coach John Harbaugh was asked about that during OTAs yesterday, and professed not to have directly seen Dobbins’ comments, but had been informed of them secondhand through the team’s communications department—their own Burt Lauten, if you will.
“We want him back, but who knows the future?”, he said, via the team’s website “If somebody can tell me whether J.K. is going to be back next year, I’d like to know – if you’re certain about it. But who knows anything about anything?”.
The best way to sound confident, of course, is to question mankind’s knowledge about even the most basic and fundamental precepts of our understanding of the universe. What does it mean to know? Can we know if we know something? Can we know what knowing is? All this spurred on by a question about some tweets one of his players made.
“I know J.K. – when he gets back here – will be determined [and] excited”, Harbaugh said, perhaps remembering mid-thought that he is not actually present at OTAs. “He will work hard, [and] his energy will be high. I know he’ll be in great shape, because I know who he is as a person, and I expect great things out of him this year”.
Dobbins has played in just 23 games since coming into the league three seasons ago, missing all of the 2021 season due to a torn ACL and limited to eight games last season, largely due to complications with the knee injury.
He has rushed for 1,325 yards on just 226 attempts, however, averaging nearly six yards per carry, with 11 touchdowns. Though still playing through injury, he was effective when he returned in 2022, looking to be roughly the same player he was before injury.
I can’t imagine Dobbins will sign an extension this year, unless perhaps it happens in the second half of the regular season. But if he gets through the year healthy and performs up to his typical standard, I imagine the Ravens will honor him and get him signed long-term.
