The Baltimore Ravens have one of the best running back duos in the NFL with J.K. Dobbins and Gus Edwards. With the amount that Baltimore runs the football, it’s important for the team to have multiple talented running backs.
Sam Monson of Pro Football Focus put together a list of his 32 best running backs entering the 2021 NFL season. To the surprise of many, Dobbins was put in the No. 26 spot. When explaining his decision, Monson implies that Lamar Jackson might have had something to with the success that Dobbins had during his rookie season.
It is tough to separate the performance of the running back from the boost he gets playing within a Baltimore Ravens offense that has QB Lamar Jackson distorting their opportunities, but J.K. Dobbins was extremely impressive in limited carries in his first year. Twenty-two of his 153 carries went for at least 10 yards.
Dobbins led all running backs with 6.0 yards per carry and was second in the league in yards per carry only behind Jackson. He had phenomenal poise for a rookie, showcasing his speed, balance and physicality while also breaking the Ravens’ rookie touchdown record.
Monson ranked players such as David Montgomery, Joe Mixon, Jonathan Taylor and Melvin Gordon III in front of Dobbins while also putting three rookie running backs who haven’t taken a snap at the NFL level ahead of him. Dobbins is disrespected in the rankings, but Monson doesn’t even list Edwards, who has been a beacon of consistency over his first three years in the league.
Overall, the rankings don’t accurately reflect how good both Dobbins and Edwards have been. They deserve to be high on any list of the best running backs in the NFL and should continue to be dominant forces.