JK Dobbins suffered an untimely injury in Week 1 and the Ravens are fearful that their starting running back may have torn his Achilles, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network. Dobbins had to be helped to the locker room in the third quarter of the Texans vs. Ravens matchup after being tackled in the red zone and did not return.
Video is never diagnostic but I really don’t know how JK Dobbins tore his Achilles on this play.
He’s even walking off field (with help) and by appearance can plantar flex (push off) which is really uncommon with tears. Maybe a partial tear? I don’t know. pic.twitter.com/D3xH0HpiMg
— Adam Hutchison (@TheRealAdam_H) September 10, 2023
Dobbins has had his share of injury woes throughout his career. After an impressive rookie season in 2020, Dobbins tore his ACL in the Raven's final preseason in 2021. He played just eight games the following season as he struggled to recover from surgery.
Action Network Director of Predictive Analytics, Sean Koerner, had Dobbins in the fourth tier of running backs in his latest running back rankings and noted that one of the red flags around Dobbins was his injury history.
Back up running backs Gus Edwards and rookie Justice Hill are next on the depth chart, but only Edwards made it into Koerner's final rankings, landing in Tier 12. With the injury, though, Koerner thinks both players are must-adds and is also keeping an eye on free agents "Kareem Hunt or [Leonard] Fournette since I bet the Ravens look to add a vet."
The two backups amassed 41 yards on 16 combined carries Sunday and Hill scored twice on the ground. Of the two options, Chris Raybon sees some value in the rookie:
Hill is likely available in most leagues and is Dobbins's direct backup. We saw Hill get two goal-line scores today. This Todd Monken offense seems to value Hill's skill set more than Edwards, who was more valued in the old Greg Roman offense. Hill can be a FLEX play and may even have RB2 value. Edwards gets a bump, but I'm not sure he'll be startable.
