Denver Running Back Has a Reputation He Doesn’t Like

The Denver Broncos have a feisty running back group, and they’re not always fond of their individual reputations. J.K. Dobbins is already known for pushing back against media perceptions, and RJ Harvey isn’t exactly pleased with the way he’s perceived, either, according to a piece from Luca Evans of the Denver Post. 

The word out in media land is that he’s undersized and perhaps injury prone, but Harvey did have a real problem with his shoulder, according to Evans. 

“I played with a torn labrum,” Harvey said during training camp back in August. “I don’t know. I’m good now. I feel great.”

Harvey wasn’t sure about what the injury was until he got an MRI at the end of the season, and that’s when the initial diagnosis was confirmed. He also doesn’t like the perception that he was “overwhelmed” in his rookie year, which was another storyline that emerged as the season unfolder. 

“I wasn’t overwhelmed,” Harvey said, speaking about his utilization as a rookie. “It was just something that I didn’t do a lot of in college. So just watching a lot of Darren Sproles cut-ups in college, and seeing how he ran his choice routes and his wheel routes, and seeing how decisive he was out of his cuts. That’s something that I focused on during the offseason, and I feel a lot more comfortable with my route-running this year.

“I’m just going to continue to get better and develop. And, yeah, it’s going to be a great year.”

Harvey showed off his Sproles-style skills in the preseason, as he caught a touchdown pass from quarterback Bo Nix on a wheel route that looked like it had been run by a receiver, as coach Sean Payton noted. 

But he wants to grow that role into a three-down back, which seems problematic at this point. He struggled running between the tackles last year when Dobbins went out, and the Broncos drafted running back Jonah Coleman to help out in that role. 

Harvey spent his offseason studying tape of backs who are very different from Sproles, though, including Kansas City Chiefs running back Kenneth Walker III. Coleman could cut into some of his opportunities, as Evans noted, but Harvey is relying on last year’s experience to help him make a leap this season. 

“Year Two in the system,” Harvey said in June, “I feel way more comfortable. And it’s only going to get better, from where I left off.”